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THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 



THE LIFE 



THE APOSTLE JOHN. 



Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of his dis- 
ciples, whom Jesus loved.— John xiii. 23. 



WRITTEN FOR THE AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, AND 
REVISED BY THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. 




Jtytlatreljjjrfa : 

AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

NO. 146 CHESTNUT STREET. 



/S3S 



:"B4 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1835, 
By Paul Beck, Jr., Treasurer, 
in trust for the American Sunday-school Union, in the Clerk's 
Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Penn- 
sylvania. 



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sol 






THE 



BELOVED DISCIPLE. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The Lord Jesus loves all his disciples, 
When he was upon earth he showed the 
greatest attachment to those who were his 
chosen companions ; and one of the last things 
that is said of him is, that having loved his 
own who were in the world, he loved them 
unto the end. Yet among them all there was 
one man who is called the disciple whom 
Jesus loved. It was John. Not the John 
who was sent before Jesus to proclaim to the 
Jews that their Messiah had come ; but the 
apostle who wrote the gospel that is called by 
his name, and the three letters called the Epis- 
tles of John, and the book of Revelation. 

We are not told why the Lord particularly 

3 



4 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE, 

loved John, but it is not difficult to suppose 
the reason. From many things that are told 
of him, and from his letters, it is plain that 
he had a very kind and amiable disposition. 
His letters are full of benevolence and affec- 
tion ; speaking of little else than the love of 
Christ, and entreating Christians to love one 
another. 

Just such was the character of the Lord 
Jesus himself. He was God, and God is love* 
All the disciples, excepting Judas, were good 
men ; but none of them appears to have been 
so much like Christ, in this respect, as John. 
It was natural, therefore, that the Lord should 
feel a particular attachment to him, and that 
he should become known as the disciple whom 
he loved. But whatever may have been the 
reason for giving him this title, the fact that 
he, was so called makes his history the more 
interesting; and it is the object of this work 
to relate all that is known about the beloved 
disciple. 



LAKE OF GENNESARET. 



THE LAKE OF GENNESARET. 



In that part of Asia which is known by the 
name of Palestine, there is a large and beauti- 
ful body of water, which is sometimes called 
the sea of Galilee, because it is in the district 
of that name ; and sometimes the sea of Tibe- 
rias, because the large city of Tiberias was 
built on its banks. It was also called the lake 
of Gennesaret. This lake 
is about sixteen miles 
long, and six or seven 
broad, and the river Jor- 
dan passes through the 
middle of it, from north 
to south. The water 
is very pure, and it 
abounds with excellent 
fish. There are several 
towns and villages on 
the sides of this lake, and many persons made 
their living by supplying them with fish. The 
fishermen used to go out, in their small boats, 
some distance from the land, and let down 
their nets into the water, until they caught 
a2 




6 



THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 



enough to take home and sell. Most of the 
persons who were employed in this business 
were poor, but many of them very respecta- 
ble. It is not likely that they made much 
money by it, and they were probably satisfied 
if they gained enough to maintain their fami- 
lies from week to week. 

At the time of which we are about to write, 
there was a man among these fishermen by 
the name of Zebedee. He and his wife Sa- 
lome lived at the upper end of the lake, in or 
near the city of Bethsaida. They had two 
sons, one of whom 
was named James, 
and the other was 
John. We cannot tell 
how these sons were 
brought up. People 
in the situation of Ze- 
bedee and Salome 
could not have been 
able to give their chil- 
dren much learning. But it does not require 
persons to be rich to train up their families in 
a right manner. Parents, however poor they 
may be, may teach their children the fear of 




LAKE OF GENNESARET. 7 

the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, 
and is worth more than all human learning. 
And many of them, too, have time to teach 
them a great deal of very useful knowledge of 
other kinds. If Zebedee and Salome were 
able to read, as most of the Jews were, they 
could find time in the evening to give lessons 
to James and John, while they were young. 
And they might in the same way have taught 
them to read and understand the Scriptures of 
the Old Testament; or if they had not the 
Bible at home, they could teach them to re- 
member what they heard read from it in 
the synagogue every Sabbath. For at this 
time the New Testament was not written. 
And, as printing had not then been invented, 
only those persons had the Scriptures who 
could afford to have the Bible copied with a 
pen. 

But we know nothing of the infancy and 
childhood of Zebedee's two boys. When 
they were old enough, their father took them 
with him to fish, and they learned to help him. 
And if John was as kind and affectionate then, 
as he was when he became an apostle, it must 
have given him great pleasure to be able to 



8 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

assist his parents. Every child who has right 
feelings will be kind to his father and mother. 
He will not only honour them, as the fifth 
commandment requires, but will be glad if he 
can do any thing to make them comfortable 
and happy. 

John and James grew up to be men ; still 
they continued to help their father, who 
was now becoming old. The nets which 
the fishermen used were made of twine, and 
were therefore liable to be worn by use, or 
broken if there should be a great many fish in 
them. It was part of the business of the fish- 
ermen to examine their nets before they went 
to fish, and see that they were strong, or mend 
them if they were broken. 

One day, as Zebedee and his sons were bu- 
sily employed at this work, a man was seen 
walking along the shore. He was about thirty 
years of age ; but, perhaps, the people who 
saw him supposed him to be older, for the ex- 
pression of his countenance was more serious 
and settled than is common at that age. As 
he came towards Zebedee's boat, he had to 
pass one in which there were two fishermen, 
who were just throwing their nets into the 



LAKE OF GENNESARET. 



9 



\, l h E E 



sea. They were brothers, named Simon 
Peter and Andrew. The stranger stood on 
the shore, and called out to them — "Follow 
me, I will make you fishers of men " 

It was the Lord Jesus. He had lately left 
his home at Nazareth, and come to Caper- 
naum, a city at the northern end of the lake, 
and not many miles from Bethsuida. It had 
not been long 
since he be- 
gan to preach, 
and to declare 
that the king- 
dom of heaven 
was at hand. 
But he was not 
unknown to all 
the fishermen. 
Andrew had 




been a disciple of John the Baptist, and John 
had pointed out to him Jesus as the Lamb of 
God. This took place at Bethabara, in an- 
other part of the country. On the same day 
that this occurred, Andrew brought his brother 
Simon to see Jesus, and it was then that he 
gave him the name of Peter. There was an- 



10 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

other person with Andrew and John the Bap- 
tist at that time, and some think it was John, 
the son of Zebedee ; but this is not known. 
There can be no doubt that all the fishermen 
on the lake had heard of Jesus ; some of them, 
perhaps, had heard him preach in the syna- 
gogues. Zebedee and his sons may have 
been talking about him as they sat mending 
their nets. They knew that the Messiah had 
been promised to the Jews. Just at that time, 
too, the people were expecting him to come ; 
and though most of them thought that Christ 
would appear as a great king, yet these hum- 
ble fishermen may have seen from the doc- 
trines and miracles of Jesus, that he was in- 
deed the Christ, and, like Andrew, already 
believed on him. 



MIRACLE AT THE FISHING. 11 

THE MIRACLE AT THE FISHING. 

But there is another account given, .which 
is so much like that which you have just read, 
that many suppose it is the history of the 
same day, except that it tells of it more fully. 
It is this. The Lord Jesus had been preaching 
in the different synagogues of Galilee. He 
entreated the people to repent of their sins, 
and proved to them out of the Scriptures that 
he was the Saviour, whom God had so long 
promised. The people were astonished when 
they heard these things ; but they were still 
more surprised when they saw him curing 
sick persons of all kinds of diseases, not by 
giving them medicine, or attending them as a 
physician, but simply by telling them to be 
well, or touching them with his hands. 

All the people in Galilee soon heard of 
these wonderful events. Every body wanted 
to see Jesus, and to hear him speak. Many 
would not believe what they heard about his 
miracles, unless they should see them with 
their own eyes. Every one who was sick, 
or had sick children or friends, was anxious 



1? THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

to have them cured. So, wherever Jesus 
went, the people crowded after him. 

One day he was walking by the lake, which 
has been described. The people came flock- 
ing after him in hopes that he would stop and 
preach to them. Seeing two fishing boats 
which were not in use, Jesus stepped into one 
of them. It belonged to Simon Peter. Jesus 
asked him to push the boat out a short dis- 
tance from the shore, that he might speak 
to the people, and be heard by them all. Si- 
mon did so ; and the Lord, as he sat in the boat, 
taught the people collected on the shore. 

After he had finished speaking, he told Si- 
mon to go out further into the lake, that they 
might take some fish. Perhaps it was with 
the kind purpose of giving food to the crowd 
of persons, who may have come from their 
homes without bringing any thing to eat. Si- 
mon, however, told him, that they had been 
out all night, and had not taken a single fish ; 
but as he had told him to do it, he would try 
again. The net was then let down into the 
water, and when they began to draw it up 
again, they found that it was so full of fishes 
that their net was likely to break. When 



MIRACLE AT THE FISHING. 13 

Simon saw this, he called to James and John, 
who were in Zebedee's boat, to come and 
help him. They immediately came up with 
their boat; and when they drew up the net, 
they had fishes enough to rill both the boats 
so full that they seemed ready to sink. 

When Simon saw this, he knew that Jesus 
was something more than a human being like 
himself. He knew that he was indeed the 
Son of God. And as men feel ashamed of 
their sinfulness when they think that God 
sees them, and know that they are not wor- 
thy to be in his presence, so Simon knelt 
down before Jesus, and said, " Depart from 
me; for I am a sinful man, Lord." James 
and John were also astonished by this mira- 
cle, and, no doubt, felt as Simon did. But 
they must all have been comforted when the 
Lord told Simon not to be afraid, and that in- 
stead of being a fisherman, he should after that 
be employed in bringing men to the kingdom 
of heaven. The words of Jesus were, " Fear 
not ; from henceforth thou shalt catch men." 
That is, it should be his business to go about 
preaching the gospel, and persuading men to 
become Christians. Christ afterwards com- 
B 



14 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

pared the preaching of the gospel to the cast- 
ing of a net into the sea. For as the fisher- 
men throw their nets in every part of the 
water where there are fish, and try to take as 
many as they can, so should the ministers of 
Christ preach the gospel wherever there are 
sinners to hear it, and pray and labour that 
many may be saved. 

Not only Simon, but his brother Andrew, 
and James and John, were told by Christ to 
follow him. Now, perhaps, the young reader 
supposes, that they promised they would do 
so if the Lord would wait a few days ; that 
Peter must first talk about it to his father 
Jonas, and John and James to their parents ; 
and sell their boats and nets, and take a fare- 
well of their friends. Or perhaps they think 
that they did not like to go until they had first 
inquired of the Lord where he was about to 
take them, what they were to do, and how 
they were to be maintained ? 

The Lord is calling upon all sinners to serve 
and obey him, and these are some of the ways 
in which thousands are putting him off. The 
Lord commands them to follow him now. 
But they are not ready to obey ; they do not 



MIRACLE AT THE FISHING. 15 

like to trust him ; they must think of it a great 
while first. 

No, this is not the way these fishermen act- 
ed. They had not seen much of Jesus, and 
did not know much about his religion ; they 
had homes, and friends, and occupations. 
But as soon as they heard the commandment 
of the Lord, "follow me" — they forsook all, 
and followed him. 



16 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 



JOHN AN APOSTLE. 



From this time John, and the three other 
fishermen, were with the Lord wherever he 
went. At different times afterwards he called 
eight others to follow him ; and he called these 
twelve men Apostles, Jesus knew that he 
had not more than three or four years to re- 
main on the earth, and that he was then to be 
betrayed and put to death. It was very im- 
portant that there should be a number of men 
who should know all that he did, and hear all 
his instructions, so that after his death they 
might write a correct account of them, and 
preach.the same truths that he had taught them, 
all over the world. He knew, too, that though 
he should be killed and be buried, he should 
rise from his grave the third day afterwards. 
It was very necessary to have persons to prove 
this, or it might be said that he had not be- 
come alive after his burial. And this is an- 
other thing that the apostles could do better 
than any other persons, for they were with 
him constantly for several years, and knew 
him so well that they could not be mistaken, 



JOHN AN APOSTLE. 17 

if they should see him and talk with him after 
he had risen from the dead. 

John, therefore, now became an apostle. 
The meaning of that title is messenger, or a 
person sent on some particular business. The 
aposdes were to be sent to preach the gospel, 
and to bear witness of the miracles, and death, 
and resurrection of Christ. And that they 
might show they had been sent, and ought 
to be believed, the Lord Jesus gave them 
power to heal the sick, and to bring dead per- 
sons to life, and to perform the same kind of 
miracles as he had done himself. As every 
one ought to know who the apostles were, you 
have here a list of their names. 

1. Simon Peter, 7. Bartholomew, 

2. Andrew, 8. Thomas, 

3. James, son of Zebedee, 9. Matthew, or Levi, 

4. James, son of Al- 10. Lebbeus, Thaddeus, 

pheus, or Jude, 

5. John, 11. Simon Zelotes. 

6. Philip, 12. Judas Iscariot. 

The Lord had given to Simon the name of 
Peter, which means a rock or stone ; and he 
gave to James and John the name of Boaner- 
b2 



18 THE BELOVED BISCIPLE, 

ges, which means sons of thunder. The 
reason of giving this name is not known ; per- 
haps it was meant to signify that they were to 
preach the gospel with great power and suc- 
cess. John was of so gentle a disposition 
that it seems strange he should be called by 
such a name. But it is not the most noisy 
and violent persons who do the greatest good, 
or have the greatest power over men. Mild- 
ness and affection will most commonly have 
the best effect. So the lovely character and 
persuasive preaching of John, may have had 
great force in causing men to feel the power 
of the gospel. 

As long as the Lord Jesus lived on the 
earth his apostles were with him. Until after 
his death they were commonly called by the 
name of disciples, which means learners, & 
name by which all Christians were afterwards 
called. Almost always, therefore, when we 
read of the disciples being with the Lord, we 
may suppose that John was among them. 

He was with the Lord when he spoke that 
beautiful discourse which is called " the ser- 
mon on the mount" We may believe that 
John listened with great attention to all that 



JOHN AN APOSTLE* 19 

he said ; and that when Christ told them how 
blessed it was to be meek, and humble, and 
pure in heart, he prayed that he might become 
so; and when the Lord said they should 
not only keep the commandments, but not 
even have an evil desire in their hearts, that 
John determined he would watch his heart, 
and try to keep from every sinful thought, and 
pray, as the Lord told them to do, " lead 113 
not into temptation." 

John also saw the Lord perform miracles 
wherever he went. It was no matter whether 
the people were sick of fevers, or palsy, or 
leprosy ; or whether they were lame, or blind, 
or dumb, and had been so ever since they were 
born ; the Lord cured them by a few words or 
a touch. And even that was not necessary ; 
for he cured persons whom he did not see at 
all, when their friends applied to him. And 
by the same divine power, he brought dead 
persons to life. Some of these he raised as 
they were laid out ready for burial ; others as 
they were carried along to the grave ; and one 
man came alive from the tomb when Jesus 
called him, though he had been buried four 
days. 



20 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

As John saw such works as these, he could 
have no doubt that Jesus was the Messiah, 
for no one could have done such things with- 
out the power of God. He was indeed con- 
vinced of this when he saw that Jesus caused 
him and the other fishermen to take so 
many fishes from the lake. But he must 
have been more and more convinced of the 
greatness of his Lord, as he saw that nothing 
was too hard for him to do. No wonder that 
when he wrote a history of these occurrences, 
he began by saying "the Word was God." 
How could he doubt it when he saw him do 
the works of God? And how it must have 
caused him to love, as well as reverence the 
Saviour, when he observed that all this power 
was exercised — not to injure any one, not even 
to punish those who abused and persecuted 
him ; but that he went about doing nothing but 
good, giving health and strength to the sick, 
feeding the hungry, helping the poor, and 
bringing back to their friends those whom 
they wept for as dead ! 



STORM ON GENNESARET. 21 



THE STORM ON GENNESARET. 

But John saw even more than this. He 
and the other apostles were one afternoon 
crossing over the lake in a boat. After they 
had been sailing some distance, and, perhaps, 
had got as far as the middle of the lake, where 
the river Jordan flows through it and makes 
it rough, a great storm arose. The waves 
were so high that they broke over the boat, 
and nearly filled it with water. The disciples 
became very much alarmed, for they thought 
the boat would sink, and they should all be 
drowned. 

All this time the Lord Jesus was lying 
asleep in the back part of the boat. The dis- 
ciples did not disturb him until they became 
so alarmed that they knew not what to do. 
They knew that he could save them from the 
danger, and so they went and awoke him, 
saying, that if he did not help them they would 
certainly perish. When the Lord awoke, 
and saw the dreadful storm, and the boat fill- 
ing with water, and the disciples standing 
around him, he was as composed as if all was 



22 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

quiet and safe. Before he got up, he re- 
proved the disciples for being so much alarm- 
ed, when they ought to have had such faith 
as would keep them from fearing any danger 
when their Lord was with them. When 
he had said this he arose, and looking out 
upon the storm, said, "Be still J" The mo- 
ment he spoke those words, the w r ind ceased 
to blow, the water became quiet, and there 
was a great calm. Think of that scene ! Who 
but God could have such power over the 
storm ! Even John, and the other disciples, 
though they had seen him perform so many 
miracles before, were astonished, and could 
not help whispering to each other, " What 
manner of man is this ? for he commands 
even the winds and water, and they obey 
him!" Perhaps some young reader is ready 
to say — how I wish I had lived in those days ! 
I should have loved to follow Christ, and be 
with him, and should have been one of his 
disciples. Do you say so ? Well, let me tell 
you good news. The Lord Jesus is still 
alive. He still wants to have disciples ; and 
he is willing that you should be one. Yes, 
more than this — he invites you to be his dis- 



STORM ON GENNESARET. 23 

ciple. He calls to you as he called to John, 
"Follow me" He says now, " Whosoever 
will come after me, let him deny himself, and 
take up his cross and follow me." Will you 
come now? Are you ready, like John, to for- 
sake all for Christ ? " Blessed are they that 
have not seen and yet have believed" 



24 



THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 



THE TWO GADARENES. 



"After the wonderful deliverance which has 
just been mentioned, the Lord Jesus and his 
disciples arrived safely on the eastern shore 
of Gennesaret, and landed in the neighbour- 
hood of the two cities of Gadara and Ger- 

gesa. The first 
persons who met 
them were two 
men, who were 
suffering under 
that dreadful af- 
fliction called the 
possession of de- 
vils. The Lord 
showed that he 
had power not 
only over common diseases, and over the wind 
and the seas, but that even evil spirits must 
obey him. At his command the devils left the 
two men whom they had so greatly torment- 
ed ; and who were so violent that every one 
was afraid to come near them. One of them, 
in particular, was made so fierce and strong 




THE TWO GADARENES. 25 

by the evil spirit, that though his friends had 
often tried to keep him confined by fasten- 
ing his feet and hands with chains, yet he 
would break them off, and escape into the 
mountains, or go among the tombs, making 
a dreadful noise, and cutting his body with 
pieces of stone. But even this man, who 
was as wild and savage as a beast, became, at 
the command of Jesus, calm and harmless ; 
his senses were restored, and he did not want 
to leave Jesus, but begged that he might be 
permitted to go with him wherever he went. 
And when the Lord told him he had better go 
to his home, and let his friends see how he 
was restored to health and to the use of his 
reason, he went not only to them, but to all 
the neighbourhood, telling, with joy and 
thankfulness, what great things Jesus had 
done for him. 

Soon after this the Lord and his disciples 
crossed the lake again in the boat, and without 
any accident arrived at Capernaum. 



26 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 



JAIRUS'S CHILD. 



Although John is not particularly named 
in the accounts that we have of the oc- 
currences last mentioned, yet there is no 
doubt he was along with the other disciples. 
They show what sort of life he was now 
leading, and how Christ was training his dis- 
ciples to be witnesses for him, by letting them 
see his mighty works, and teaching them at 
the same time the great truths of religion by 
conversing with them, and letting them hear 
his discourses to the people, wherever he 
went. What a blessed privilege ! What a 
great advantage, some may say, had John over 
us ! But first remember what privileges you 
have. Instead of hearing the Lord speak and 
preach from day to day, and forgetting, as you 
would do, a great deal of what he said, or 
making mistakes in trying to remember it, you 
have his conversations and his sermons print- 
ed for you in a book. There they are pre- 
served without mistake ; for the Holy Spirit 
directed those who wrote them down, and kept 
them from error. If you would like, then, to 



27 

know what Christ said, read the gospels. 
One of them was written by the very John 
whose life we are considering. Surely we 
ought to trust the account that is given to us 
by so holy a man, who was so constantly 
with Jesus, and saw what he describes. But 
when we consider also that John wrote by 
the direction and help of God, we ought to 
believe every thing that he records, as cer- 
tainly as if we had been present ourselves. 

But having given this specimen of the man- 
ner in which the apostles accompanied Christ 
in his journeys and voyages, we shall hereafter 
only describe the scenes in which John is par- 
ticularly mentioned. 

There was a man at Capernaum whose 
name was Jairus. He seems to have been a 
very respectable person, and was one of those 
who were intrusted with the care of the syna- 
gogue there. Jairus had a daughter, about 
twelve years old, whom he very much loved. 
This little girl was taken sick, and became so 
ill that her father thought she could not reco- 
ver. She was his only daughter, and was at 
an age when little girls should be making the 
hearts of their parents happy, by showing that 



28 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

they have chosen the paths of religion. Such 
daughters, whether they are in high or humble 
stations of life, are blessings to their fathers and 
mothers, and have the promise of the bless- 
ing of God. 

If such was the character of Jairus's little 
girl, it is no wonder her father was greatly 
distressed when he saw her so dangerously ill. 
Physicians could do her no good, and he 
thought his only daughter was soon to be 
taken from him. But he remembered the 
kind man who had lately come from Naza- 
reth, who had preached in the synagogue, of 
which Jairus had charge, and who had healed 
so many persons of dreadful diseases. Here 
was his last hope. If he could only get this 
merciful being to lay his hands on his little 
daughter, as he had done on other sick per- 
sons, he was sure his darling child would be 
restored to him. 

Jesus was that day at the house of the 
apostle Matthew. He had dined there, and 
was speaking on religious subjects to the peo- 
ple who were at the table with him, and others 
who had come into the room to see and hear 
him. When Jairus heard that he was there, 



JAIRUS'S CHILD. 29 

he ran to Matthew's house, and coming into 
the parlour where Jesus was, he knelt down 
at his feet, and begged him most earnestly to 
come and cure his child. 

Oh! how earnestly he must have looked 
and spoken ! His only child dying — perhaps 
dead since he had left home, and Jesus the only 
one who could save her ! If parents feel this 
concern for their children when they are in 
danger of dying of sickness, how should they 
pray and beseech the Lord, to deliver them 
from the danger of eternal death ! 

Jesus did not disappoint the anxious father, 
for he saw that he was in earnest and that he 
had faith. He got up and followed Jairus, 
who went before to show the way to his 
house. The disciples also went along with 
Jesus, and all the people who were in Mat- 
thew's house at the time followed them, that 
they might see what Jesus would do. The 
people also in the streets joined with them, 
so that a crowd was soon collected and fol- 
lowed the Lord. 

On his way, Jesus cured a poor woman of a 
disease under which she had suffered for twelve 
years. And as he was telling her that she 
c2 



30 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

had been healed because she had faith, some 
persons who had just come from Jairus' house 
met them. They went up to Jairus and told 
him that he need not trouble Jesus to go any- 
further with him, for it was too late — his 
daughter was dead ! 

Poor Jairus ! how sad was the news to 
him. He was perhaps beginning to think if 
he had only gone for Jesus sooner, his child 
would have been saved. But the Lord did not 
give him time for such distressing thoughts, 
for as soon as he learned what the message 
was, he kindly told Jairus not to be afraid, for 
that if he would only have faith, his child 
should be even yet restored to him. Every 
thing now depended on the father's faith. 

At length they came to the house. When 
they reached the door, Jesus would not allow 
the crowd who had followed him from Mat- 
thew's house to come in. They had come 
out of curiosity, and as they had seen his 
power in curing the woman as they came 
along, it was not necessary that they should 
press into Jairus' house, and into the chamber 
where his daughter lay dead. 

Jesus therefore took only three of his dis- 



JAIRUS'S CHILD. 31 

ciples in with him, along with Jairus and his 
wife. The three were Peter, John, and his 
brother James. In the house were a num- 
ber of persons expressing their grief in the 
manner which was then common when a per- 
son was dead. The women were not only 
weeping, but wailing or screaming aloud, and 
making a distressing noise. They had even, 
according to the customs of the time, em- 
ployed musicians who made mournful music 9 
and sang melancholy tunes. Alas, how little 
did this affect the lifeless child in whose ho- 
nour it was done ! All the noise did not dis- 
turb or please her. There she lay, stretched 
on her bed, pale and motionless, neither hear- 
ing, nor seeing, nor knowing what was going 
on. 

Jesus begged the people to stop their weep- 
ing, and to cease the singing and music 
They thought it as strange that such a thing 
should be asked, as we should, if a person 
should come into the house where some one 
had just died, and tell the family not to show 
their grief. For if the little girl was dead, 
they thought the customs of the country on 
such occasions should be observed. But 



32 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE* 

Jesus gave them a reason for his request* 
He told them that the child was not dead — 
that she was only asleep. This was more 
likely to stop them than any thing else he could 
say. But they did not understand what he 
meant, for they knew that she was dead, ac- 
cording to their meaning of the word. But 
not knowing what he meant, they answered 
him with scorn, though they afterwards saw 
that Jesus had spoken the truth, as well as 
themselves. 

Jesus then went into the chamber where 
the little girl had died, taking with him none 
but her father and mother, John, James, and 
Peter. How anxious must Jairus and his 
wife have felt now ! Jesus went up to the 
bed where the child was lying, and taking 
her hand, said to her, Maiden, Arise. As 
soon as he had said this, the little girl rose 
up as if she had been awakened from sleep, 
and was so well and strong that she at once 
left her bed and was able to walk. 

Who can imagine the happiness of Jairus 
and his wife, when they once more kissed 
their darling child whom they had expected 
to follow to the grave! and how thankful 



JAIRUs's CHILD. 33 

must they have felt to the kind friend, who 
had brought their daughter back from death, 
to life and health ! And surely we may hope 
that the first thing the child herself did, was 
to inquire who her Saviour was ; and that 
when she learned he was the Son of God, 
who had come not only to raise the dead, but 
to give repentance and remission of sins 
through faith in him, she became a Christian ; 
and that when at last she died, it was in the 
joyful belief, that he who had raised her from 
death would receive her to himself, so that 
death would still be no more than going to 
sleep in this world and aw T aking in heaven. 

And do any young readers think that this 
was a greater privilege than they shall ever 
have ? Would they not like to ask some one 
who saw all that took place at the house 
of Jairus, if he thought Christ would be as 
kind to any daughter that w r ould love him ? 
If they choose, they shall have this question 
answered. John himself will tell them, that 
if they will become true Christians, they shall 
not only be raised up from their graves to be 
for ever with the Lord, but that they shall 
never die, — that is, death will have nothing 



34 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

fearful in it for them ; and if their bodies die, 
their souls shall live for ever and ever. Yes, 
the apostle John tells them this in his gospel, 
where he has written these words of the Lord 
Jesus himself: — / am the resurrection and 
the life ; he that believeth in me, though he 
were dead, yet shall he live ; and whosoever 
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. 



THE NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAIN. 



35 



THE NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAIN. 



The next time that we hear of John, after 
Jairus's daughter had been brought to life, 
was at a still more interesting and wonderful 
scene. 

The Lord Jesus took him with his brother 
James, and Peter, into one of the high moun- 
tains of Galilee. Jesus loved to pray ; and 




ft! 



5* w ==- r\ 



v >-m 



N^%^ 



Mt« TaDor 




he was in the habit of going for this purpose 
into quiet places, where there was no danger 
of being interrupted. He seemed to love to 
retire to the hills and mountains, especially 
at night, and there speak in prayer with his 
Father in heaven. What an example is this 



36 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 1 

to us ! The holy Jesus delighted to spend the 
whole night in this manner. How ashamed 
should this make us feel, who have so much 
greater need of prayer, and yet spend so little 
time in it, and find so little happiness in the 
duty. 

It was evening when the Lord, with John 
and the two other disciples, went to the 
mountain. When they had got some dis- 
tance up, and perhaps to the very top, the 
disciples were very tired, and lying down on 
the ground, fell asleep. But Jesus would 
rather spend the time in prayer. He knew 
that he had a great work to do before he 
left the earth, and as he had become a man 
for the purpose of performing this work, it 
was proper for him to look up to his Father 
to enable him to perform it well. 

The three disciples had been sleeping for 
some time, when they were suddenly awak- 
ened, probably by a great light all at once 
shining around them in the darkness of the 
night. When they opened their eyes they 
saw the Lord still praying, but every thing 
about him seemed changed. His face was 
so bright that it appeared to shine like the 



THE NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAIN. 37 

sun. His very clothes, which were made of 
nothing more than common materials, looked 
white and dazzling as the snow. He was 
surrounded with this glory, which was too 
splendid to be described, and which rilled the 
disciples with wonder. For though they had 
often seen him do the works of God, they had 
never before beheld any thing in his appear- 
ance that was so different from what had ever 
been seen on earth. It was indeed, as John 
said of it when he became an old man, the 
glory as of the only begotten of the Father.* 
But this was not all. They observed two 
men talking with Jesus. They were none of 
the other disciples ; neither John nor his com- 
panions had seen them before, and they too 
had a glorious appearance, which was not like 
any thing that is seen among men. They 
were still more astonished and filled with 
dread, when they found that one of the men 
was Moses, and the other Elijah. Moses 
had been dead nearly fifteen hundred years. 
He had died on Mount Nebo, opposite the 
city of Jericho, about sixty miles from the 
place where they now were. Elijah had not 

* John i. 14. 
D 



38 



THE BELOVED DISCIPLE* 



died; but upwards of nine hundred years be 
fore this, he had been taken to heaven from 
the banks of the Jordan opposite to Jericho. 



Capernaum e ^|l 


Two more 
wonderful per- 


«#** " *i|^ 


sons could not 
have appeared. 
Moses was the 


l\t 


man to whom 


yg 


God gave the 


Bethel • f 
Jsrichj* H 


laws which 
had ever since 


JeiusalemiSfC ^=^^» « 


governed the 


^s^jJffSJP^jft 


Jewish people. 
He was sent by 
God to bring 


s ^ 


hispeoplefrom 
their slavery in 



Egypt, and for forty years he led them through 
the wilderness, though they amounted to seve- 
ral millions. 

At the end of that period having conducted 
them to the east side of Jordan, he died in 
view of the country, and it is said that " God 
buried him" in the mountain where he 
died. 



THE NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAIN. 39 

Elijah had been one of the greatest pro- 
phets that was ever in the world. The Lord 
enabled him, as he had Moses, to perform 
many miracles, and had taken him to himself 
without dying. 

When the disciples found themselves in 
the presence of two such men, of whom they 
had so often read in the Scriptures, but whom 
they never had expected to see till they met 
them in heaven, it is no wonder they were 
overcome with surprise and knew not what 
to do. The sudden appearance of such glory, 
too, must have dazzled them, and besides all 
this they heard Moses and Elijah talking to 
Jesus about his death. This was enough of 
itself to fill them with anxiety and alarm. 
They indeed knew not what to say or do. 
But at last, when they saw that Moses and 
Elijah were going away, Peter begged that 
the Lord would permit him and the other dis- 
ciples to put up three tents or huts, one for 
the Lord, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, 
that they might stay in the mountain and be 
together. But Peter could not have thought 
of what he was saying ; for those who have 
once quitted the earth and gone to heaven, 



40 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE, 

need no tents or houses to shelter them, and 
it was not probable that such a glorious scene 
would last. But the great lawgiver and the 
prophet had gone away before Peter had time 
to do what he proposed. 

He had not time, indeed, to think of it an j 
longer himself. For whilst he was speaking, 
new occurrences took place which engaged 
the attention of the three disciples. They 
now observed a bright cloud coming over 
and surrounding them. Whilst they were 
looking with awe at this sight, they heard a 
voice speaking to them out of the cloud, and 
saying distinctly — This is. my beloved Son, 

IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED ; HEAR YE HIM. 

The disciples knew who spoke these words. 
They must have remembered that when Jeho- 
vah led their fathers, many hundred years 
before, through the wilderness, he caused a 
cloud to go before them which was dark in 
the day-time, and bright by night. They 
must have recollected also, that when God 
spoke to Moses or to the priests, it was gene- 
rally from the midst of an appearance like a 
bright and glorious cloud. Yes, they knew 
who he was that spoke, for Peter after- 



THE NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAIN. 41 

wards in a letter which he wrote, said, " We 
were eye-witnesses of his majesty : for he 
received from God the Father honour and 
glory, when there came such a voice to him 
from the excellent glory, This is my be- 
loved Son, in whom J am ic ell pleased. And 
this voice, which came from heaven, we heard 
when we were with him in the holy mount.''* 

If John and the two other disciples were 
astonished and filled with awe when they saw 
Moses and Elijah, how much more dreadful 
must they have felt, when they heard the 
voice of God himself, speaking out of the glo- 
rious cloud ! They had heen able before to 
look at what was passing and even to speak 
to the Lord, but when this voice came, they 
fell on their faces and were afraid to look up. 
They must have felt as Jacob did at Bethel, 
after he had seen the Lord in a vision, when 
awaking he exclaimed, " Surely the Lord is 
in this place and I knew it not. How dread- 
ful is this place ! this is none other but the 
house of God, and this is the gate of heaven !"t 

Oh, how should we feel if we were suddenly 
to find ourselves in the presence of the holy 

* 2 Pet. ii. 16, 17. J Gen. xxviii. 16, 17. 
d2 



42 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE* 

God ! We should think that he knew all our 
sinfulness, and could not venture to look up 
to him, lest he should destroy us for our 
wickedness. 

But the Lord is as near us as if we heard 
him speak, and saw some token of his pre- 
sence. He knows our sins as well as if we 
had seen him when we committed them. 
Who then will not be afraid to provoke God ? 
And who will not rejoice, that though we dare 
not come alone into his presence, he has sent 
his Son into the world, that by him we might 
be able to approach and find mercy. 

Yes, Christ is ready to act for humble and 
penitent sinners, just as he did for the three 
disciples. For when they were lying on 
their faces in great fear, he came up to them, 
and kindly put his hands on them, and told 
them not to be afraid, but to rise up. 

When they heard the well-known voice of 
their Lord, the disciples ventured to look up, 
and to rise from the ground. Moses was 
gone, and Elijah was gone, and the bright 
cloud was not to be seen, and Jesus appeared 
as he usually did, without any of the bright- 
ness that had shone around him before. They 



THE NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAIN. 43 

became composed, when they found them- 
selves once more alone with their beloved 
Master, and as they came down from the moun- 
tain the next morning, they asked him to ex- 
plain some things that were written in the Old 
Testament, which he did. 



44 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 



JOHN'S MISTAKES. 

John was so constantly with the Lord, and 
was so much honoured with his friendship, 
that we should suppose he would have been at 
all times meek, and merciful, and humble, like 
his Master. But if the Holy Spirit does not 
constantly dwell in the heart, the best of men 
will do wrong. Sometimes it seems as if 
God did leave good men alone for a little time, 
that they may find how helpless they are 
without him. Just, as you sometimes see a 
kind father or mother leave a little child that 
is not old enough to walk, standing alone a 
few minutes till it finds that it will fall if its 
parent does not come to it. Even John stood 
in need of continual care, to keep him from 
being angry and proud. Two or three things 
took place in his life which show this ; but 
there is every reason to believe that they were 
very different from his usual conduct, and that 
as he grew older and learned more, he became 
more and more like his Divine Master. 

It was some time after that night which 
John spent in the mountain, when he saw 



John's mistakes. 



45 



Moses and Elijah and heard the voice of God, 
that the Lord Jesus left Galilee to go to Jeru- 
salem. John and the eleven other disciples 
were with him. 
"When they 
came to the 
country of Sa- 
maria, no one 
would receive 
them into their 
houses,orshow 
them any kind- 
ness. The rea- 
son of this was 
that the peo- 
ple of Samaria 
and the Jews 
disliked each 




other ; and they carried this sinful feeling so 
far, that they would have no dealings of any 
kind together, if they could help it. The 
Lord Jesus was too holy and benevolent to 
hate any one, and he was ready at all times 
to do good to his enemies. But when the 
Samaritans found that thirteen Jews wanted 



46 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

to pass through their village, they remembered 
how badly they were often treated by people 
of that nation, and instead of returning good 
for evil, they would do nothing for them. 
John and his brother James became angry 
when they found the people so unkind ; and 
remembering that Elijah in this very country 
had called for fire from heaven to destroy an 
hundred and two men, they asked the Lord 
if they might not punish these Samaritans in 
the same way. But the Lord had a very dif- 
ferent disposition towards his enemies, and 
instead of being pleased with John and James 
for what they had said, he reproved them ; 
telling them that they had a very wrong spirit 
towards the Samaritans, and that he had not 
come to destroy men, but to save them. 

It is probable that this reproof was remem- 
bered by John, and that it did him good. 
This is the way in which all wise persons 
receive good advice. John soon discovered 
that, if any one would be holy and righteous, 
he must love all men. As he afterwards said 
in a letter himself, — " If a man say, I love 
God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar ; for he 



JOHN S MISTAKES. 47 

that loveth not his brother whom he hath 
seen, how can he love God whom he hath 
not seen ?"* 

At another time Salome, John's mother 
came with him and his brother James to the 
Lord, to beg him to give her sons some very- 
great honour in his kingdom. Salome was a 
pious woman, but even the friends and disci- 
ples of Christ did not fully understand the 
gospel, nor how Jesus was to be their Sa- 
viour, until after his death and return to hea- 
ven. Not only she, but John and James 
also, as well as many other good Jews, seem- 
ed to think that Christ would be a king at 
Jerusalem, and that the Jews would become 
as great and powerful a nation as they were 
in the times of David and Solomon. As John 
and James had been among the first disciples 
that were chosen, and as Christ had taken 
none but them and Peter with him on some 
important occasions, Salome and her sons 
appear to have thought that they might ex- 
pect some great honour when the kingdom 
should be established. For not only the mo- 
ther, but her two sons, asked Jesus that one 

* 1 John iv. 20. 



48 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

of them might be on his right hand, and the 
other on his left, when, instead of wander- 
ing about the land without a home, he should 
sit on his royal throne in the great city of 
Jerusalem. 

But when they had said this, the Lord told 
them they knew not what they were asking. 
He then intimated, that instead of going to 
Jerusalem to become a splendid king, he was 
about to pass through great suffering ; and 
that, though they too might have to suffer for 
his sake, they and all his followers must not 
expect to be rewarded, until God should give 
them a place in heaven. 

When the other apostles heard what John 
and James and their mother had done, they 
were offended with them. But Jesus called 
them all together, and told them that though 
in this world kings had great power and au- 
thority, and appointed men to high offices, 
yet it was very different in his kingdom. 
As his desire was to make men better and fit 
for heaven, it was no matter whether they 
had power on earth or not ; or whether they 
were rich or poor : but that all true Chris- 
tians should be humble ; and not be seeking 



John's mistakes. 49 

places of distinction. The best way to be 
accepted of God is to be lowly : knowing 
that it is God who makes us pious and useful, 
if we are such, and that therefore we have no 
reason to be proud. As he had told the dis- 
ciples before, whosoever exalteth himself 
shall be abased ; and he that humbleth him- 
self shall be exalted. Jesus ended by telling 
them that he had not come into the world to be 
waited upon like a prince, but to serve others, 
and even to give his life a ransom for many. 

The Lord had another opportunity of teach- 
ing his disciples not to think too highly of 
themselves. They happened to see some 
one curing a person of a dreadful disease by 
a miracle. The man who had performed it 
was not one of the apostles, but he had done 
it in the name of the Lord Jesus, and not 
pretending that it was by his own power. 
When the apostles saw this, and found that 
they did not know the man, they forbade him 
to do such things, supposing that they only 
had the right to act in the name of the Lord. 

John gave an account of this to Jesus. 
Perhaps it was to know whether they had 
done right. But Jesus told him that they 
E 



50 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

should not have prevented the man from per- 
forming miracles in his name, for if God en- 
abled him to do such works, it was a proof 
that he was a friend of the Lord Jesus. 

Thus we see that John was not only dis- 
tinguished by the confidence and affection 
of the Saviour, but that he was reproved 
when he did wrong, and instructed when 
he acted from ignorance. And so it is still 
with the people of God. He is their pres- 
ervers and protector; they are adopted, for 
Christ's sake, as his children, and like a fa- 
ther he loves and pities them. But, like a 
good father, he also corrects them when they 
sin, that they may be put in mind of their 
duty to him, and become partakers of his ho- 
liness. He gives them his word of truth to 
admonish them of their duty, and to teach 
them what they ought to believe and do. 
And he is the happiest and best follower of 
Christ, who, with the humility of a little child, 
sits, as it were, at his feet to learn of Him. 
For this purpose he reads the Bible ; believes 
it because it is the word of God ; and obeys 
it because he loves to do his will. 



THE TEMPLE. 



51 



THE TEMPLE. 

After this we hear of no more mistakes 
of John ; nor do we know that he again gave 
occasion to his beloved Master to reprove 
him. He, with Peter and James, were cho- 
sen to be with him in some of the most im- 
portant scenes of the rest of his life. 

The Jews were in the habit of frequently- 
going to the Temple in Jerusalem, to see the 
sacrifices, or pray, and for other religious pur- 
poses ; and even to see each other on com- 
mon business. It was open every day, and 
there were so many large enclosures, or 
courts, as they were called, that thousands 
of people could easily be collected in them 

without inconve- 
nience. The Lord 
Jesus often went 
into these courts 
and porches, to 
converse with the 
people ; and some- 
times large num- 
bers would gather 
around him to hear 




52 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

him speak, or to dispute with him. Some- 
times he would tell the people a parable, to 
instruct them in some duty. At others he 
would openly reprove them for their sins, 
and teach the necessity of repentance. The 
people were generally very anxious to hear 
him ; some out of curiosity ; some because 
he told them such beautiful parables ; a few 
because they wished to hear and obey the 
gospel. Often the worst persons of the 
crowd who listened to him, and who should 
have been the most anxious to hear how they 
might be saved, became angry because Jesus 
told them the truth. 

One day he had been spending some time 
in the temple in this manner, and as he was 
coming away, his disciples began to talk 
about the beauty of the place. They re- 
marked what a splendid building it was, and 
of what immense size the blocks of marble 
were of which the walls were made, some 
of them being seventy feet long. The tem- 
ple stood on the top of a hill, and to support 
it there were marble walls on every side 
covering the hill, one of which was six hun- 
dred feet high. Around the temple were 



THE TEMPLE. 53 

long porticoes supported by double rows, and 
on one side by three rows, of high pillars. 
Many parts of it were covered with gold, 
which shone with great splendour in the sun. 
As the disciples talked of these strong and 
magnificent buildings, Jesus told them that 
the day would come when they should be so 
entirely destroyed, that there should not be 
left one stone upon another. 

This must have astonished the disciples ; 
but none of them ventured just then to ask 
him any further questions about it. But after 
they left the temple, Jesus went to a beau- 
tiful hill that was opposite to it, called the 
Mount of Olives, or Mount Olivet. John 
came to the Lord whilst he sat on this mount, 
and with him came his brother James, Simon 
Peter, and Andrew, Peter's brother, all of 
whom Jesus had called at the same time, from 
their boats on the lake. 

From the top of the mount they could see 
the whole of the temple and its various build- 
ings, and John and his companions begged 
the Lord to tell them when they should be 
destroyed. They seemed to think that when 
e2 



54 



THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 



this took place, 
Christ would begin 
his new kingdom 
in some such way 
as they had before 
imagined. It was 
in answer to this 
question that Jesus 
made one of the 
most important and 
solemn prophecies 
that are recorded 
in the Bible. He 
told those four 
men exactly what 
should happen after his death. He men- 
tioned that impostors should pretend to be the 
Messiah ; that wars and great troubles should 
prevail ; that the apostles themselves should 
be persecuted, imprisoned, and killed ; that 
Christians should be so much hated, that even 
fathers would give up their children, and child- 
ren their parents, to be put to death for be- 
lieving in Christ. He then described the 
distress that should come upon Jerusalem ; it 
would be taken by their enemies, and the in- 




THE TEMPLE. 55 

habitants killed or taken away as slaves. All 
which things took place forty years afterwards, 
just as Christ had predicted. 

If these disciples were expecting that Christ 
was going to tell them he would be king at 
Jerusalem, and that the temple and all its 
riches would belong to him and his disciples, 
how astonished must they have been to hear 
what was really coming to pass ! The glorious 
temple and the city itself were to be destroyed ; 
and these apostles, instead of becoming great 
men in the world, were to be hated by all 
men for the sake of Jesus, and should be beat- 
en and imprisoned, and most of them put to 
death. But this did not shake their love to 
Christ, or their confidence in him. They 
continued with him, though they found every 
day that their master, instead of being ho- 
noured by the people as their desired Mes- 
siah, was more and more despised and perse- 
cuted. " He was in the world" said John, 
" and the world ivas made by him, and the 
world knew him not. He came unto his own, 
and his own received him not."* 

* John i. 10, 11, 



56 



THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 



It was now nearly three years, or, as some 
think, four or five years, since John had left 
his fishing boat and his father's house, to be- 
come a disciple and follower of Jesus of Na- 
zareth. All this time he had accompanied 
the Lord wherever he went in Judea, Sama- 
ria, and Galilee, and the neighbouring regions. 



iTiYa.mP **^ • Bethsaida 



T-. . V||£§|i^#Gerjjesa 
; erias »%Ai*«Magdala 
^^^•Daln.anutlia 

eGadara 




He saw his miracles, and heard the parables, 
sermons, and discourses w r hich he spoke to 
the people day after day. Besides this, he and 



THE TEMPLE. 57 

the other apostles had the advantage of being 
with him by themselves, and hearing him ex- 
plain whatever they could not understand, or 
that Jesus did not see fit to tell to all the peo- 
ple. They were therefore constantly increas- 
ing in their knowledge of the religion they 
were soon to preach. But they did not yet know 
what was to be the great fact which they were 
to preach. That their beloved Lord was not 
only to be put to death on a cross, but that 
they were to go to all parts of the world to 
declare this as the only way by which sins 
could be pardoned, was as yet very far from 
their thoughts. 

But they were soon to be taught this ; for 
the time had nearly come, to which Christ had 
been looking forward, when he was to give his 
life a ransom for many. John was with him 
constantly, and at this time he seems to have 
been first called The Beloved Disciple, on 
account of the particular kindness which was 
shown to him by the Lord in the closing 
weeks of his life. 



53 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE* 



THE LAST PASSOVER. 

The Jews, or Israelites, as they were then 
called, once lived in Egypt. They were 
treated with so much cruelty that the Lord 
sent Moses to bring them away, and lead them 
into the land of Canaan. That was the old 
name of the country in which all the events 
took place that we have been describing. The 
king of Egypt would not allow the Israelites 
to leave his country, although Moses had 
proved that God had sent for them by per- 
forming great miracles before him. To punish 
the king, and to compel him to let the people 
go, God sent dreadful afflictions upon him and 
his nation. But yet the king would not per- 
mit them to leave Egypt. At last God caused 
the oldest child in every house of the Egypt- 
ians, and the first-born of all their cattle, to 
die on the same night. But none of the child- 
ren or cattle of the Israelites died. When 
this took place, the king consented to let them 
go, lest God should destroy his whole nation. 
And thus the Israelites escaped out of the 
cruel slavery in which they were kept in 



THE LAST PASSOVER. 



59 



Egypt, and set off on their journey to the de- 
lightful land of Canaan, which was to be their 
own. 



MEDITERRANEAN 




But God did not wish them to forget that 
they had once been a poor and oppressed 
people, and that he had in great mercy deli- 
vered them from their bondage. So he com- 
manded them every year, on the same night 
on which they had left Egypt, to eat a supper 



60 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

in their houses in such a way as would re- 
mind them of what had taken place, and make 
them thankful to God for his goodness. 
Whenever this supper was eaten, they were 
to explain its intention to their children, so 
that the history should never be forgotten. 

This supper was called the feast of unlea- 
vened bread, because the bread they ate at 
that time had no leaven or yest in it, to put 
them in mind that when they left Egypt they 
came in such haste that they could not wait for 
their dough to rise. It was also called the 
passover; because whilst there was a death 
in every house of the Egyptians, the houses 
of the Israelites were passed over, or not visit- 
ed by death. 

When the Lord Jesus was upon earth, 
the Jews had kept the passover, with some 
exceptions, for nearly fifteen hundred years. 
As all the ceremonies of the Jews were to be 
observed until after his death, Jesus probably 
kept the passover with the apostles as his 
family, every year after he had called them. 

He was now going to be with them at this 
feast for the last time. He knew that as 
soon as it was over, he should be put to death, 



THE LAST PASSOVER. 61 

and as it would be the last occasion in which 
he could talk wiih them before he died, 
he took care that every thing should be pre- 
pared for the passover-night. 

It was on Thursday, the second of April, 
in the year of our Lord 33, that this last pass- 
over took place.* The killing and eating of 
the paschal lamb was always done on the first 
night of the passover-week, and the rest of the 
week was observed by eating no bread that 
had leaven in it. On the morning of the first 
day of the passover-week, Jesus sent John and 
Peter to Jerusalem to get every thing ready 
that he might eat the supper with his apostles. 
He himself remained in the Mount of Olives, 
and perhaps spent the day in prayer. The 
two disciples did not know where to go to 
engage a room, and to bespeak the articles 
necessary for the supper. But Jesus, who 
knew every thing before it happened, as well 
as all that did happen, told them that soon after 
entering the city they should meet a man car- 
rying a pitcher of water ; they must follow 

* The length of the Lord's ministry, and other dates 
in this history, cannot be exactly ascertained; but those 
most commonly fixed on by approved authors are 
adopted in this volume. 

F 



62 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

him till they saw him go into a house, and, 
going in after him, were to tell the person who 
lived there, that Jesus and his twelve disciples 
were coming that night to eat the passover at 
his house. 

John and Peter did as they were directed, 
and every thing took place as the Lord had 
said. They met a man with a pitcher of water, 
which he had probably just filled at a well in 
the neighbourhood, and they followed him to 
the house where he carried it. They deli- 
vered the Lord's message to the master of the 
house. Perhaps he was a Christian, and was 
delighted with the privilege of having the 
Lord and his disciples at his house. But this 
we do not know. However, he showed them 
a room in the upper story of his house, which 
w r as large enough for the thirteen persons who 
were to come, and which had a table and 
other furniture necessary for the purpose. All 
this Jesus had exactly told John and Peter 
they should find. 

Having engaged the room, the two disci- 
ples gave directions for every thing that was 
necessary. A whole lamb must be brought 
and killed by the priests at the temple : it 



THE LAST PASSOVER. 63 

had then to be roasted, and a sauce of bitter 
herbs made to be eaten with it ; unleavened 
bread and some wine were also to be ready. 

John and Peter having attended to all these 
things, when the evening came, Jesus and the 
apostles came to the house, and sat down, or 
rather reclined, as the custom was, at the 
table. When the passover was first instituted, 
the people used to eat the supper standing, 
with their dress tight about them, and staves 
in their hands, as if just starting on a journey. 
This was to remind them of the haste with 
which their fathers had eaten the first pass- 
over on the night they came out of Egypt. 
But this practice seems to have got out of use, 
and the supper was eaten in the usual way in 
which the people of the east placed them- 
selves at table ; that is, they sat on wide 
benches or couches, with their feet upon them, 
and leaning upon one of their arms. John 
was next to Jesus at the table, and according 
to this position, his head might be said almost 
to have lain in the Lord's bosom. 

They then ate the lamb and bread, and 
drank of the wine, which was handed round in 
a cup, from which all tasted. In the course 



84 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

of the evening, Jesus, to show his disciples 
that they should be humble, and be kind to 
each other when he was gone from them, 
went round the benches on which they were 
reclining, with a basin of water, and washed 
their feet, and wiped them with a towel. 
This surprised them, but it no doubt caused 
them to remember what he taught them about 
humility, much better than if he had not given 
them such an example of condescension. 

Whilst they were still at the table, Jesus 
said that one of those very disciples that were 
then eating with him would give him up to 
his enemies. Who can imagine how the dis- 
ciples felt when they heard this ? How dread- 
ful to think that any one of the twelve who 
had been with him so long, and seen his mi- 
racles, and known how good, and holy, and 
kind he was, and who had been always treated 
as his friends — that any one of these should 
now be willing to betray him, to sell him to 
those who were seeking to kill him ! Jesus 
had told them before that he should be be- 
trayed ; but he had never said any thing of 
the person who should do it until now. When 
they heard it, they were filled with grief, and 



THE LAST PASSOVER, 65 

Jesus himself was sorrowful as he told them 
the dreadful truth. The apostles could not 
think who of them it was that would be 
so base. They looked at each other in asto- 
nishment, and as if trying to see who was the 
guilty one. They whispered among them- 
selves, one asking another, " Who can it be ?" 
They could not suspect any one in particular, 
and became so anxious that each began to ask 
the Lord, " Is it I ?" " Lord, Is it 1 ?" 

As John was nearest to the Lord, and 
could speak to him without being heard by 
the rest, Peter, who was at another part of the 
table, beckoned to him in such a way as to 
make him understand that he should ask 
Jesus who it was. John quietly asked Jesus, 
and he told him that he should know the man 
in this way : — It was usual at meals to dip a 
piece of bread into a dish of sauce, and hand 
it to the persons at the table. Jesus told 
John he was going to do this, and the man to 
whom he would give the sop was the one 
who would betray him. 

Jesus then dipped the bread, or whatever 
it was he had in his hand, into the thick 
sauce, made of dates, raisins, and other arti- 
f 2 



66 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

cles, which was commonly used at the pass- 
over supper, and handed it to Judas Iscariot. 
It soon became known to all the apostles that 
Judas was the betrayer, and Jesus told him 
openly that he was the man. 

The fact was that Judas had already be- 
trayed him. He knew that the Jewish 
priests and other officers were trying to get 
an opportunity of seizing Jesus, and having 
him put to death ; and he had gone to them, 
and asked them, how much they would give 
him if he would deliver the Lord into their 
hands. They offered to give him about fifteen 
dollars, and Judas agreed to the bargain. 
From that time he was watching to know 
when Christ would be alone, so that he 
might tell the priests, and they could take 
him without its being known by the people, 
many of whom would have been willing to 
protect him. When it became known to the 
disciples at the table that Judas was the 
traitor, there was no reason why he should 
stay any longer with them. Jesus, there- 
fore, who knew what Judas had been doing, 
told him that he had better now go and do at 



THE LAST SUPPER. 67 

once what he was about to do. And Judas 
Iscariot left the room.* 

* There is a difference of opinion whether Judas 
was present at the institution of the Lord's supper. 
The author in the above account has followed Dr. 
Doddridge's Harmony, but our readers can compare the 
narratives of the four evangelists, and judge of its cor- 
rectness. 



68 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE* 



THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

The passover supper was now finished, 
and Jesus, taking some of the bread and wine, 
gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take, 
eat, drink ye, all, of it„" He said that he 
wished them, and all who loved him, to do 
the same at proper times, after his death, and 
that it should be done by his people till the 
end of the world. There were to be no more 
passover suppers, because he was to be the 
sacrifice which was signified by the Lamb ; 
and he wished them to remember him by 
eating bread and drinking wine in a solemn 
manner as Christians. He said that as the 
bread was broken into pieces, so it might 
remind them, and all other believers, of his 
body, which was to be wounded and put to 
death on a cross, for their salvation. And so 
the wine would put them in mind that his 
blood had been shed for their sakes. 

Thus he instituted the Lord's supper ; and 
having sung a hymn, Jesus and his eleven 
apostles went out of Jerusalem to the Mount 
of Olives, 



THE LORD S SUPPER. 69 

We do not know how John acted, or what 
he said during this solemn scene, but his af- 
fectionate heart must have felt very sorrowful, 
when he heard his beloved Lord say that he 
was so soon to suffer and to die. But Jesus 
gave the disciples much consolation. He 
told them not to be troubled ; he was going 
to heaven to prepare a place for them, and 
would send the Holy Spirit to comfort and 
bless them. He begged them to love one 
another, and he prayed to his Father to keep 
them united as brethren, and make them 
holy, so that at last they might be brought to 
heaven, where they would see their Lord, in a 
glory brighter than when he was seen with 
Moses and Elijah in the mount, for it would 
be the glory which he had with the Father 
before the world was made. 

John heard with attention all that the Lord 
said, and remembered it ; and he has written it 
down, and it will be preserved till the end of 
the world. 



70 



THE BELOVED DISCIPLE, 



GETHSEMANE. 

Between Jerusalem and the Mount of 
Olives, there was a shady valley through 
which the brook Kedron flowed. Beyond 




s%£*f& 



the brook was a garden, where Jesus often 
went for quiet and retirement. It was known 
by the name of Gethsemane. It was to this 
spot that Jesus came with his disciples, after 
finishing the passover and establishing the 
Lord's supper. It was then late on the even 



GETHSEMANE. 71 

ing of Thursday, and Jesus wished to con- 
verse a little more with his disciples, and 
prepare them for what was about to take 
place. He told them that that very night 
they would forsake him, but that after his 
resurrection he would meet them again in 
Galilee, He then wished to spend some time 
in prayer. And telling the other disciples to 
remain where they were, he took John, his 
brother James, and Peter, to a more retired 
part of the garden. 

John was now well known as the beloved 
disciple; and it had been seen that evening, 
at the passover, how much attached the Lord 
was to him. It was very natural that he 
should be chosen to be with Jesus in a time 
of sorrow, such as that which was now ap- 
proaching. Peter and James were also pro- 
per persons to be with the Lord at such a 
season. They, with John, had beheld the 
Lord's glory when Moses and Elijah spoke 
with him, and the voice of the Father was 
heard acknowledging him as his beloved son ; 
and they were the best fitted to behold him 
now, when he was to be seen as a sufferer. 
They had then beheld him honoured as Go d; 



^2 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

they were now to see the proof that he was 
also man. 

When Jesus had come with the three dis- 
ciples apart from the rest, they saw that he 
was in great sorrow. It was a sorrow that 
seemed to fill his soul, till he could scarcely 
bear it. It was not because he was afraid to 
suffer and to die. He had often spoken about 
it without dread, and had told the disciples 
that he was going to his Father, and should be 
eternally glorious and happy. He had power, 
too, to escape from all his enemies, and 
ascend to heaven, before they could injure him. 

There was no cause of the dreadful suffer- 
ings of Jesus in Gethsemane but this : — he 
came to redeem sinners from the punishment 
which they deserved. And he consented to 
become a man, and to bear himself the pun- 
ishment which the sinners in whose place 
he suffered would have had to bear, if he had 
not come to save them. It was this which 
filled his soul with such sorrow, and we should 
remember it as we read the account of his 
sufferings. 

Jesus did not conceal his distress from the 
three disciples. He told them that his very 



GETHSEMANE. i-S 

soul was in such anguish that it almost caused 
him to die. But he knew, that though he 
was standing in the place of sinful men, there 
was one way alone in which help could be 
found. It was by earnest prayer. He there- 
fore told them to stay near him, and pray for 
themselves, while he should look to his Father 
for relief. 

Jesus then went a short distance from them, 
and kneeled on the ground. He prayed that 
the dreadful sorrow which he felt might be 
removed. He was so earnest in his prayer 
that he fell on his face ; and yet he only asked 
that his prayer might be granted if it were 
right that it should be ; that is, if it were pos- 
sible to save sinners without the suffering that 
was coming upon him. But he begged that 
his Father would do as He saw was right, and 
not to relieve him from his sorrow, if it was 
necessary that he should bear it. 

Having prayed in this manner for some 
time, Jesus came back to John and the other 
two disciples. They had probably prayed, 
and as the Lord did not soon return, had 
fallen asleep. He again advised them to keep 
awake, and to pray against temptation. For 
G 



74 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

he knew that soon they were to be put to a 
great trial of their faith. 

This showed that even in his own dreadful 
distress, he did not forget his beloved disciples. 
And having thus awakened them, he returned 
to pray. Again he prayed to his Father, that 
if it was not right that he should be delivered 
from his sufferings, that his Father's will, and 
not his own, should be done. After spend- 
ing, as is likely, some time in this manner, 
Jesus again returned to the disciples, but they 
had again fallen asleep. He probably awaken- 
ed them, and conversed with them for a while, 
but soon went again to pray. For it seems as 
if he felt constant anxiety on their account, as 
well as for himself. 

He still continued to pray on the same sub- 
ject ; begging that his agony might be relieved 
if it was possible, and yet desiring that it 
should not be done if his Father saw that it 
was necessary to deliver the souls of men 
from punishment. 

Faithful prayer will always be answered. 
God may not give the very thing that his child- 
ren ask for, because he may see that it is not 
best for them to have it ; but he will give them 



GETHSEMANE. 75 

what is better for them than what they ask. 
For instance, a person may have a very pain- 
ful disease, and may pray God to cure it. 
But God may see that the disease is necessary 
to keep the person humble, and make him pa- 
tient and more holy. So he may answer his 
prayer by giving him grace, or strength to 
bear the pain, as he did to Paul, when he said 
to him, " My grace is sufficient for thee." 
And every real child of God will desire to 
have his prayer answered in the way that 
God knows to be best. 

In this manner were our Lord's prayers 
answered. His sufferings w T ere not removed, 
but God sent an angel from heaven to comfort 
him, and strengthen him to bear them. 

Some persons, when they have gained what 
they prayed for, think there is no need of 
praying any more. Many children, when 
they are sick, pray very often to be made well. 
But when God makes them well they forget 
him, and do not find it so pleasant to pray to 
him, as they did when they felt their need of 
him. 

This was not the case with Jesus. When 
he had been comforted by the angel, he did not 



76 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

go away from Gethsemane satisfied. No, he 
prayed more earnestly than before. He felt 
that it was good to pray. And though his 
agony of soul, on account of the sins of others, 
continued, yet he knew that God would up- 
hold him. 

His sorrows, indeed, increased. It was 
night, and he was in the cool air, but such 
was the earnestness of his prayer, and the 
greatness of his agony, that sweat rolled 
from him, and even his blood was forced 
through his skin, and fell in large drops on 
the ground. 

Oh, my young reader ! stop here, and think 
who it was that suffered this, and what was 
the cause of it all. Remember, it was the 
holy Jesus, the Creator of the world, who 
was in this distress. Remember, that he 
came from heaven for the very purpose of 
suffering all this in the place of sinners, so 
that they might be pardoned, if they would re- 
pent of their sins, and trust in him. Can you 
think that he suffered this for you? Can you 
believe that the Son of God loved you so 
much, that he would come from heaven, and 
live more than thirty years on this earth, and 



GETHSEMANE. 77 

then bear this and all that followed, for your 
sake ? And if you believe this, are you still 
sinning against this merciful Saviour ? Are 
you still refusing to become his disciple ? 
Will not all this love and sorrow move you to 
go to him, and beseech God, for his sake, to 
pardon your sins, and send his Holy Spirit to 
change your heart? He now sees you as you 
read this book, and knows how you feel. 
He is ready and willing this moment to re- 
ceive you, if you really desire to be his disci- 
ple. Will you not, then, now trust your soul 
to him, and be his ? 



g2 



78 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 



THE BETRAYAL. 



When Jesus had finished praying, and had 
come to the disciples, he found that they 
had for the third time fallen asleep. He 
aroused them as he had done before, and told 
them that the hour had come in which he was 
to be betrayed, and that the traitor was now 
close by them. 

If John, James, and Peter had attended to 
the advice of the Lord, and spent the time in 
prayer, they might have been prepared for all 
that took place, and have kept by their Lord till 
the last. But now they were terrified, whilst 
Jesus was ready to meet his enemies without 
fear, and to give himself up into their hands. 

He had scarcely told them that his hour 
had come, when they heard a mob of people 
coming into the garden. They saw that they 
were armed with swords and clubs, and that 
Judas was leading them on. He had often 
been in that very garden with Jesus, and knew 
where to find him. To prevent their taking 
one of the disciples for Jesus, in the darkness 
of the garden, Judas had agreed to go up to 
Jesus and kiss him, which was the manner 



THE BETRAYAL. ?9 

in which the Jews saluted each other when 
they met. The people would know by this 
that he was Jesus, and were to seize him and 
take him away. 

It seems wonderful that Judas could dare to 
do this, when he remembered that Jesus had 
told him, before all the disciples at the pass- 
ever, that he was going to betray him. But his 
wickedness was now so great that he had no 
shame, and he went up to Jesus as if he was 
his friend and disciple, calling him Master, 
and kissed him. 

The meek Saviour was not provoked by 
this to anger. He had been spending the 
night in prayer, and his holy soul felt no evil 
passion. He only asked him for what pur- 
pose he had come there, and if he was going 
to betray him under the pretence of showing 
his affection in kissing him. 

Jesus then went without fear towards the 
mob, and asked them whom they were look- 
ing for. They said they were looking for 
Jesus of Nazareth, Wicked men are of- 
ten very bold in determining to commit some 
great crime, but when they come to do it, 
they feel afraid to go on. This seems to 



80 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

have been the case with the people who came 
after Christ. Perhaps they began to tremble 
with fear, when they found themselves so near 
the innocent person they had come to injure. 
There was a great multitude of them, and 
they had swords and clubs, whilst there were 
no more than eleven (perhaps only three) men 
with Jesus, and they could not make much 
resistance. But yet when Jesus told them 
plainly, that he was the one they were look- 
ing for, the whole multitude began to draw 
back in terror, and fell on the ground. 

This was enough to convince them and the 
disciples, that Jesus might easily have es- 
caped from them. But he did not wish to 
avoid his sufferings, and he again asked them 
whom they had come after. They now took 
courage and replied again, " Jesus of Naza- 
reth." Jesus then said that he had already 
told them that he was the person, and that as 
he was the only one they were seeking, they 
should let his disciples go away without in- 
jury- 

Yes, he was willing to be left alone with this 
mob of violent men, rather than have one of his 
disciples suffer any injury by being with him. 



THE BETRAYAL. 81 

The people then came forward and seized 
Jesus with their hands. The three disciples 
had been probably in fear all this time, and 
not knowing what to do. But when their be- 
loved Master was thus taken hold of like a 
robber, Peter's anger was aroused, and taking 
hold of a sword, he struck one of the men. 
Jesus at once told him he had done wrong, 
and healed the man's wound, assuring Peter 
that he did not need the defence of men, for 
if he chose to pray to his Father for help, he 
would send thousands of angels to deliver 
him. But he would not have any thing done 
to prevent what the prophets had foretold in 
the Scriptures should happen to him. 

Among the rest of the crowd was a com- 
pany of Roman soldiers, with their captain. 
They now came forward and took charge of 
Jesus, and to keep him from escaping, tied his 
hands together. 

As all the disciples had gone with Jesus 
that night to the Mount of Olives, and he had 
left them to go to Gethsemane with John, 
James, and Peter, it is likely that by this 
time, the eleven were either with him, or 
were somewhere in the garden. They now 



82 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

saw their Lord taken by the mob, bound, and 
about to be led away by a guard of soldiers. 
It was at night. Every thing was terrifying. 
They knew not what was going to take place. 
They were astonished and alarmed. Perhaps 
the three who had been with him the whole 
time, understood the Lord to mean that they 
ought to escape, when he told the mob that 
as they had only come for him, they should let 
them go away. But whatever may have been 
the cause, when Jesus was led off by the 
people, all the disciples left him. 



THE HIGH PRIEST S. 83 



THE HIGH PRIEST'S. 



But Peter and another disciple soon felt 
how unkindly they had acted. Although it 
is not positively certain that this other dis- 
ciple was John, yet there is every reason to 
believe that it was he, and we shall so speak 
of him. They followed the mob till they 
brought Jesus to the house of Caiaphas, the 
high priest. The priests and many of the 
principal Jewish rulers had probably been 
waiting at his house all the night, to be ready 
to condemn Jesus as soon as Judas should 
bring him. 

When they came to the house, nobody was 
allowed to go in but those who were guarding 
Jesus. There was a woman at the door to 
keep out the crowd. But as John had some 
acquaintance with Caiaphas, she permitted 
him to go in ; and when he found that Peter 
was kept out, John spoke to the woman, and 
she allowed him also to come inside of the 
house. Jesus was taken before the priests 
and officers, and they tried to find persons 
wicked enough to tell falsehoods about him, 
so that they might condemn him. While 



84 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE 

this was going on, John was probably in the 
same room with Jesus, listening anxiously to 
all that was said. But Peter stood in another 
place, warming himself by the fire, for it was 
yet night, and the air in Judea at that time is 
cool. It was then that Peter was taught how 
unable he was without the help of God to be 
faithful in times of temptation. 

That very evening he had declared boldly 
to the Lord that though every one else should 
forsake him, he never would; and that if it 
should cost him his life, he would not deny 
him. The Lord had just told him that they 
all should forsake him that night, and it Was 
contradicting what he said, to speak as Peter 
did. But the Lord let him see that without 
his help, he, like all others, would be conti- 
nually going into sin. Whilst he was in the 
house that night, he denied three different 
times that he was a disciple of Christ, or that 
he even knew him. But when he afterwards 
saw Jesus, and thought of what he had done, 
he was deeply distressed, and went out and 
wept bitterly. 

The priests and others had been all this 
time trying to make an excuse for saying that 



THE HIGH PRIEST'S. 85 

Jesus deserved to be put to death. But it 
was impossible to find any one who would 
say that he had ever done any thing that was 
wrong, or deserved the least punishment. 
His whole life had been spent in doing good 
and in teaching the truth. But when he 
acknowledged that he was the Son of God, 
they declared that he had spoken blasphemy, 
and said that he must be put to death, as the law 
of Moses required. Not satisfied with this, 
they allowed the men who were around Jesus 
to strike him, and to cover his eyes so that 
he could not see, and even to spit in his face. 
How must John have felt when he saw his 
beloved Master standing amongst such men, 
with his hands tied, and suffering such treat- 
ment ! 

Will you stop here again, my reader, and 
think why it was that the holy and innocent 
Jesus bore this, and for whose sake he did it? 
You perhaps say how could they treat so 
good a being in this manner ! But how have 
you treated him ? Have you loved, and 
obeyed, and honoured him as you think 
these priests ought to have done ? He is the 
H 



86 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

same Jesus still, and though men no longer 
have the power to bind and insult and kill 
him, they may neglect and hate him. Will 
you be among these ? 



the governor's, 87 



THE GOVERNOR'S. 

It was now Friday morning. For all that 
has been related took place on the night after 
the passover at Jerusalem. They next led Je- 
sus to one of the governors whom the Roman 
emperor had placed over the Jews. His 
name was Pontius Pilate. The reason they 
brought Jesus to him was. that the Jews 
were not allowed to put any man to death, 
unless the governor would consent to it. As 
Pilate was not a Jew, he did not care for the 
laws of Moses, and therefore would not have 
allowed them to put a man to death for blas- 
phemy. The Jews knew this, and when 
Pilate asked what his crime was, instead of 
telling him what they had condemned him 
for, they made a new falsehood. They said 
he had been teaching the people that the 
Roman emperor had no right to govern them, 
and that he was their king. But they could 
bring no proof that he had ever said such a 
thing ; and Pilate did not believe it, and told 
the people that he could find no fault in 
Jesus. 



88 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

But this did not satisfy the people. They 
were determined to have Jesus put to death, 
and still wanted Pilate to consent to it. 
Pilate did not wish to condemn an innocent 
person, and yet did not like to offend the 
Jews. So when he heard that Jesus lived 
in Galilee, he thought he would avoid all 
trouble by sending him to the governor of 
that district : for Pilate was only governor of 
Judea. The governor of Galilee, or tetrarch, 
as he was called, was named Herod Antipas. 
He was the man who had put John the Bap- 
tist in jail, and had him beheaded there. 
Herod was at this time in Jerusalem ; for he 
was a Jew, and had probably come there to 
attend the passover. 

Pilate therefore sent Jesus to Herod, and 
the priests and others again accused him. 
Jesus, seeing that there was no proof brought 
against him, and knowing that it would be in 
vain to say any thing to such a man as Herod, 
made no reply to the accusations. Herod, 
instead of telling the people that they had 
proved nothing against Jesus and letting him 
go, ridiculed and insulted him ; and to make 
mockery of him, put on him a showy dress, 



THE GOVERNOR'S. 89 

perhaps some old robe which had once been 
very gay, but which would make the people 
laugh at Jesus. He sent him back to Pilate 
with this dress on. 

Pilate then told the priests and rulers and 
the other people, that neither he nor Herod 
could find any fault in Jesus ; but that to 
please them he would have him beaten with 
a whip, called the scourge, and then let him 
go. He also proposed, that as it was his 
custom at every passover to set at liberty 
some one in prison whom they desired, he 
would this year dismiss Jesus, who was now 
a prisoner. But they would not hear to this, 
and said they would rather he should pardon 
a man by the name of Barabbas, who was 
known to be a robber and murderer. Pilate 
then asked them what he should do with 
Jesus ; for he had not been found guilty of 
any crime, and yet they kept him bound. 
The whole mob then cried out that he ought 
to be crucified, — that is, nailed by the hands 
and feet to cross pieces of wood, which was 
the way in which slaves were commonly exe- 
cuted. Pilate again tried to reason with them, 
but they would not regard what he said, and 
h 2 



90 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

only cried out the more, " Crucify him ! cru- 
cify him !" He asked them again why he 
should do this ? What had Jesus done that was 
wrong? But they had nothing to answer 
him, but " Crucify him I crucify him I" 



THE CROSS. 91 



THE CROSS. 



After this, Pilate gave up Jesus to the 
people, rather than displease them. He him- 
self caused him to be beaten with the scourge, 
a most painful whip of several lashes, with 
sharp thongs to each. His soldiers then 
took him, and, to make sport with him, pre- 
tended to treat him as a king. They put a 
purple and scarlet dress on him ; and for a 
crown, they platted together some branches 
of a thorn-bush, and pressed it on his head. 
And as kings on great occasions carry scep- 
tres, they mocked Jesus by putting a stick in 
his hands, which were still tied together. 
Then they bowed and knelt, laughing at him, 
and calling him king of the Jews. Some 
struck him with their hands, and taking the 
stick which they had made him hold, struck 
him on the head. 

Pilate again tried to persuade the people to 
be satisfied with what they had done. But 
they were determined to put Jesus to death, 
and the unjust and cruel governor consented. 
The people then, taking off the purple and 
scarlet clothes which they had put upon him 



92 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

in mockery, led him away, intending to cru- 
cify him. A great crowd followed them, as 
they took Jesus to a hill a short distance from 
Jerusalem named Calvary, or, as it was some- 
times called, Golgotha ; which was the place 
where they commonly put persons to death. 

Weak and exhausted as Jesus must have 
been, after the sleepless and anxious night he 
had passed, and the sufferings of the morning, 
they made him carry part of his own cross up 
the hill. And to make it appear still more as 
if Jesus was a common criminal going to be 
punished, two men were taken to Calvary who 
were to be crucified for robbery. 

Although so many things had taken place 
since the passover on Thursday evening, yet 
it was now only nine o'clock on Friday morn- 
ing when they brought Jesus to the place of 
death. As soon as they reached the place the 
soldiers laid a cross on the ground, and taking 
Jesus, they placed him on his back upon it. 
They then stretched out his arms on the 
cross piece of wood, and while one man held 
his arm, another drove a large iron spike 
through the middle of his hand into the wood. 
Then they drove spikes through his feet, 



THE CROSS. 



93 




fastening them to the 
lower part of the cross. 
A hole was dug in 
the ground, and se- 
veral men lifting up the 
cross, with Jesus nail- 
ed on it, put the end 
of it in the hole, and, 
making it fast, left it 
standing. The two 
robbers were crucified 
at the same time, and 
one of them was placed 
on each side of the Lord Jesus. When the 
soldiers had done this, they sat down on the 
ground to wait until the crucified persons 
should be dead : for men often passed seve- 
ral hours in great agony on the cross before 
they died. 

The enemies of Jesus were not even satis- 
fied now, when he was suffering the most 
dreadful and disgraceful punishment they could 
inflict. They insulted him even on the cross ; 
asking him why he did not come down, and 
ridiculing what he had said. The soldiers also 
took his clothes, and divided them among 
themselves. 



94 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

But there were other persons at Calvary 
that morning than the enemies of Jesus. 
There were some to weep at his sufferings, 
and who would not leave him to die alone. 
There stood his mother, who was now proba- 
bly more than fifty years of age. What a 
dreadful sight, to behold her son in such tor- 
tures, without being able to do any thing for 
him ! Her sister was with her ; and also a 
woman whom Jesus had cured of a distressing 
disease, whose name was Mary, of the town 
of Magdala, and therefore called Magdalene. 
The beloved disciple was also there. It is not 
likely that John had left the Lord a moment 
since he was taken to the house of Caiaphas. 
He knew he could not help him, and that 
Jesus did not wish him to try. But he loved 
his Lord too well to leave him. He, there- 
fore, followed him to Calvary, and, perhaps, 
sometimes spoke affectionately to him on the 
way. But, distressed as John must have 
been, he no doubt tried to comfort the mother 
of the dying Jesus. He could tell her of many 
things lie had said about his coming again, and 
could repeat some of the delightful promises 
and consolations which he had given to his 



THE CROSS. 95 

disciples when he had told them not to let 
their hearts be troubled. None of the disci- 
ples, indeed, understood exactly what Christ 
meant when he told them he would rise again 
the third day, but yet they must have had a 
hope that he would in some way triumph over 
his enemies. John, and the mother of Jesus, 
and Mary Magdalene, stood near the cross. 
There were others of his friends who stood 
further off: among these was Salome, John's 
mother. 

Notwithstanding his dreadful agony, Jesus 
did not forget his mother, or his beloved dis- 
ciple. Joseph, her husband, seems to have 
died before this ; and there would be now no 
one to take care of her in her old age. As Jesus 
hung on the cross, and saw her and John look- 
ing anxiously up to him, he remembered this. 
He knew how much John loved him, and that 
he would do any thing he asked of him. 
Jesus, therefore, speaking to his mother, and 
alluding to John, said, "Behold thy son" 
Mary knew at once that he meant that, as he 
was now about to leave the world, she should 
regard John with as much affection as if he 
were her own son. He then said to John — 



06 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

" Behold thy mother ;" and these few words 
were enough to make John understand that 
he wished him to regard and take care of 
Mary, as if she were his own mother. 

Nothing can be more tender or affectionate 
than this scene. It showed not only how 
much the Lord loved his mother, but also 
what confidence he had in his disciple. Most 
persons when in great pain can think of none 
but themselves. But it seems as if Jesus was 
always thinking of others and trying to do 
them good. He comforted the women who 
lamented for him as he went from Jerusalem 
lo Calvary ; and even on the cross not only 
provided for his mother, and showed his re- 
gard for his beloved disciple, but gave a pro- 
mise of mercy to one of the robbers, when he 
found he was penitent, and at last prayed for 
those who were putting him to death. 

Jesus was about six hours on the cross be- 
fore he died. At twelve o'clock it began to 
be very dark, and continued so until three in 
the afternoon. What dreadful sorrows he 
passed through in that time cannot be told. 
He was suffering great pains from his cruci- 
fixion, but he had more awful distress to bear. 



THE CROSS. 97 

He was the sacrifice for sinners ; he had con- 
sented to take their punishment upon himself, 
so that those who repented and believed in 
him might be pardoned. It seems as if his 
Father had now left him; for he cried out 
aloud, " My God, my God, why hast thou 
forsaken me /" Soon after this his lips were 
wet with vinegar, which one of the soldiers 
put to his mouth by fastening a sponge to the 
end of a long reed ; and this was the only 
thing that he took to refresh himself dur- 
ing the whole day. The time of his depart- 
ure was now near, and the great work for which 
he had come down from heaven and endur- 
ed all this agony, was nearly done. He knew 
this, and said aloud, " It is finished." He 
then said, " Father, into thy hands I commit 
my spirit" 

Every one was looking up to the holy suf- 
ferer. His mother and his beloved disciple 
must have watched every motion and listened 
to every sound. They looked anxiously at 
his face, and as they looked, his head was 
suddenly bowed — Jesus was dead ! 

The darkness still continued; the great 
curtain in the temple fell apart as if it had 



98 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

been suddenly torn : there was an earthquake : 
rocks were violently split : graves were open- 
ed, and many holy men arose. Such things 
would not have happened at the death of a 
mere man ; and even the soldiers were in fear, 
and one of them cried out, " Truly, this was 
the Son of God" And the people that had 
followed Jesus that morning to Calvary, and 
had cried out for his death, were now filled 
with terror, and striking their breasts as a 
sign of their distress, went back to the city. 

But John did not even now leave the Lord.; 
and while he stood near the cross, he saw one 
of the soldiers with his long spear pierce 
the dead body of Jesus to the very heart. 
Soon after this the body was taken down from 
the cross, as the Jews did not wish it to re- 
main on the Sabbath, which commenced on 
Friday evening. Several of the friends of 
Jesus took charge of it, particularly a rich 
man named Joseph, who obtained permission 
of Pilate to bury it himself. Joseph, Nico- 
demus, and others, wrapped the body in fine 
linen, with a great quantity of spice to pre- 
serve it from decay, and laid it in a new tomb 
which belonged to Joseph, and was situated in 



. 



THE CROSS. 99 

a garden near Golgotha. There they thought 
they would let it remain until the Sabbath 
was over, and then they would have it 
anointed and embalmed, according to the 
Jewish custom, and leave it in the tomb. So 
little did they know what was about to take 
place ! 

When John was going home from Calvary 
that evening, he did not forget what his Lord 
had said to him from the cross. He took 
with him the sorrowing mother of the crucified 
Jesus, and from that time took care of her 
as if she was his own mother. His affec- 
tionate disposition, and his love to the Lord, 
and to her for his sake, must have made her 
home as happy as any place could be, to one 
who had parted with such a son. 



100 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE, 

THE RISING. 

When Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, was 
over, some pious women went to the tomb 
of Jesus before sunrise the next morning, to 
finish the embalming of the body, which they 
had not had time to do on Friday afternoon 
As a large stone had been rolled to the place of 
entrance into the tomb, (the tomb or grave 
itself being cut out of a solid rock,) the women 
were wondering, as they went along, how 
they should get it moved away. But when 
they came to the place, they saw that the 
stone was already taken from the door of the 
sepulchre, and that the body of the Lord was 
gone. One of them at once ran back to Jeru- 
salem, and told John and Peter. The two 
disciples ran in great haste to the place, and 
there found that it was indeed so. They went 
into the tomb, and saw the linen in which the 
body had been wrapped, but Jesus was not 
there. They soon returned to Jerusalem, won- 
dering at what had occurred, and perhaps 
intending to call the apostles together to de- 
cide upon what should be done. 

The truth was, that very early on Sunday 



THE RISING. 101 

morning, before the women had gone to the 
grave, an angel descended from heaven, re- 
moved the stone from the entrance, and Jesus 
arose alive and left the burying-place. There 
was in the garden at the time a company of 
Roman soldiers, which Pilate had sent to 
guard the sepulchre and prevent the disciples 
from taking the body away. For several per- 
sons had heard Jesus say, he would rise the 
third day after his death, and the people thought 
that the disciples might come and take away 
his body, and then pretend that it had gone 
to heaven. To prevent this, these soldiers 
were placed to guard the tomb ; and to be 
sure that no person could move the stone with- 
out its being known, it was sealed with wax, 
which of course would be broken if the stone 
was moved. The appearance of the angel 
was so splendid and terrible, that when the 
soldiers saw him move the stone and sit upon 
it, they trembled with alarm, and could say 
or do nothing ; and probably as soon as the 
angel disappeared, and they found that Jesus 
had gone, they went to the temple to tell 
what had taken place. 

Mary Magdalene was the person who 
\2 



102 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

brought the news to John and Peter that the 
sepulchre was empty. After they had seen 
the place, and returned to Jerusalem, she 
came back to the garden. She was standing 
by the tomb weeping in great distress, when 
happening to look in, she saw two angels sit- 
ting in the sepulchre. When they observed 
her, they asked what was the matter with her. 
She told them she was weeping because 
some one had taken away the body of the 
Lord, and she could not find what they had 
done with it. As she said this she observed 
another person standing near her, who also 
asked her why she was there weeping, and 
whom she was looking for. In her distress 
she did not take particular notice of the per- 
son who spoke, and perhaps at that early 
hour of the morning, and in a dark part of the 
garden, she could not easily have known any 
one. But thinking that it was probably the 
gardener of the place, she begged him to tell 
her if he had removed the body of Jesus from 
the grave ; and if he had, and would tell her 
where it was, she would take it away, and 
have it buried in some other spot. 

When the person only answered her by 



THE RISING. 103 

calling her name, Mary i she knew at once it 
was Jesus himself who had been speaking to 
her. It seems as if she must have been over- 
come with joy and astonishment, and per- 
haps was falling on her knees before her Lord ; 
for he at once told her not to show any such 
marks of reverence and love at that time, but 
to go and tell his disciples that he was soon 
to leave the earth and ascend to his Father. 

These were some of the wonderful events 
which took place on the Sunday morning 
after the crucifixion and burial of the Lord. 
It soon became known to all the apostles that 
Jesus had risen. Some would not believe it ; 
all were astonished. For though Jesus had 
so plainly declared he would rise again, none 
of them seem to have understood him to 
mean that he would so soon appear again in 
his own body. But their doubts were soon 
removed, for that very evening he met ten of 
the apostles together in a room in Jerusalem 
where they had assembled. John says the 
disciples were rejoiced to see their Lord 
again. He must have been particularly glad 
himself to see the Master whom he so much 
loved, and who had shown him such great 



104 



THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 



affection as to make him known among all 
the others as the Beloved Disciple. He and 
the other apostles now understood what their 
Lord had meant, when he told them he would 
rise the third day. They began to see that 
there was something more important in his 
death than they had yet clearly known, and 
the glorious and wonderful truth began to be 
perceived, that he had died as the Lamb of God. 
On the morning of his resurrection the 
Lord sent word to his apostles to go to Gali- 
lee, and promised to meet them there. John 

— therefore went 




back to his 
old home on 
the Lake of 
Gennesaret. 

How much 
he had seen 
and learned 
since he had 
left his boat 
and net there to 
follow Jesus ! 
What wonder- 
ful scenes had 



THE RISING. 105 

he passed through ! He was then a humble 
fisherman, expecting perhaps to spend his 
whole life in the same business that his father 
Zebedee had followed before him. But he 
had been called away from his occupation 
and his home to follow him who was then 
known only as a man of Nazareth. He had 
been with him several years. He had seen 
him perform the works of God ; he had seen 
him surrounded by divine glory, and heard 
him called the Son of God by the voice of the 
Father from heaven. Again, he had seen him 
pleading with the Father in agony which 
forced the blood through his skin. He had 
seen him betrayed, persecuted, abused, seized 
by a mob, bound, and insulted; and at length 
put to death in the most public and disgrace- 
ful manner. Then he had seen the darkness, 
and the earthquake, and the rising of the 
saints, which took place as he hung on the 
cross. And now he had beheld him again 
alive, and had talked with him, though he had 
seen him pierced to the heart, and though he 
had lain in the grave. 



106 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE* 



THE FORTY DAYS. 



John and his brother James, with Peter, 
and four other disciples, were one day walk- 
ing together along the lake, waiting for the 
time when they were to meet the Lord. 
They had been told that Jesus was going to 
ascend to heaven, and perhaps they were won- 
dering what they should then do, and whether 
they should come back to their nets on the 
lake. They all agreed to take a boat and go 
out to fish. They prepared nets and went 
out, but after trying for the whole night they 
took none. On the next morning some one 
called to them from the shore, and told them 
if they would throw their nets on the other 
side of the boat, they would be sure to find 
some. They did so, and when they began to 
draw their net up again, it was so full that 
they could not get it out of the water. 

John at once said it must be Jesus who 
had told them where to throw the net. He 
remembered that the Lord had performed a 
similar miracle when he had first called them 
on the lake, several years before. John told 



THE FORTY DAYS. 107 

Peter it was certainly the Lord. Peter 
would not wait till the boat could be brought 
to shore, but jumped into the lake, and swam 
to the place where Jesus stood. John and 
the others soon brought the boat to the same 
spot, dragging the net full of fishes through 
the water. The seven disciples now met 
their Lord with joy. They saw by this act 
that he had the same divine power as he had 
before his death, and when he first called 
them to follow him. 

They dragged the fishes on the land, and 
broiling some, ate of them. When they had 
finished, Jesus asked Peter three times if he 
loved him. This may have been intended 
to remind Peter that he had three times de- 
nied him, and that he ought to be now very 
careful in what he said, for the time was com- 
ing in which he would have greater trials 
and temptations than he had in the hall of 
Caiaphas. But Peter answered him each 
time, " Lord, thou knowest that I love thee," 
and each time he was told to feed the sheep or 
lambs of Christ, meaning that he was to show 
his love by acting to his people like a kind 
and careful shepherd. Jesus then signified 



108 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

to him that the time would come when he 
should be bound and put to death for his 
sake. But Peter was now strengthened by 
faith in his Lord, and was not alarmed by 
what he foretold ; so that when Jesus told 
him to follow him, immediately he arose and 
went after him. When Peter rose up to fol- 
low Jesus, John also walked after them. 
Peter, observing him, asked the Lord what 
he should do ? for he was anxious to know 
what would happen to a disciple so much 
favoured as the beloved apostle. Jesus re- 
proved his curiosity, by asking if he should 
choose John to remain until he should come, 
what difference did it make to Peter ? The 
apostles misunderstood this, and thought that 
Jesus meant that John should never die ; but 
John himself did not imagine this. 

At various times and in different places, for 
the space of forty days, the apostles saw the 
Lord, and he gave them directions how they 
were to act, and spoke to them on many subj ects 
which they had not clearly understood before. 
By his divine power he enabled them to un- 
derstand the Scriptures better than they had 
ever done. He showed them how the pro- 



THE FORTY DAYS. 109 

phecies had been fulfilled in his death and re- 
surrection. He now proved to them that it 
was necessary that he should have died to 
make atonement for sin, so that pardon might 
be obtained by all who should repent and 
trust their souls to him in real faith ; and that 
this salvation was not procured for the Jews 
only, but for sinners of all nations. He told 
them that they must now go and spend their 
lives in preaching this truth everywhere, and 
in giving their witness to his death and resur- 
rection. They were to wait at Jerusalem 
until Jesus should leave the earth, and send 
from heaven the Holy Spirit to prepare them 
still better for their work. But as soon as 
this took place, they were to go into all the 
world, and preach the gospel to every crea- 
ture ; the Lord declaring that those who be- 
lieved the gospel and obeyed it should be 
forgiven and saved for ever, and that those 
who would reject it should be condemned to 
everlasting punishment. 

There were many important truths and 
directions which Christians ought to know, 
that the Lord did not speak to his dis- 
ciples during his life on the earth. But all 

K 



110 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE* 

these were revealed to the apostles by the 
Holy Spirit, and they were preached by them, 
and written in their epistles. We should re- 
member, in reading the New Testament, that 
whatever is there written by Divine direction 
is just as true and important as if the Lord 
Jesus had spoken it; for it was revealed by 
his Spirit ; and if we wish to know all the 
doctrines of the Christian religion, we must 
read the Epistles and Acts of the Apostles, as 
well as the four Gospels. 

The Lord spent nearly six weeks on earth 
after he had risen from the sepulchre, That 
was long enough time for the apostles and 
other disciples to be convinced that it was 
their crucified Lord who had been restored to 
life, and to teach the eleven what they were 
to do after he should finally leave them. 



THE ASCENSION. Ill 



THE ASCENSION. 



At the end of the forty days the Lord took 
the apostles again to the Mount of Olives. 
Jesus and his apostles were now to separate, 
never again to meet in this life. He was 
going to his throne in heaven, and to the glory 
which he had with the Father before the 
worlds were made ; they to tell the Jews that 
their Messiah had appeared, and all the world 
that a Saviour had died, and had gone to 
heaven to make intercession for those who 
should repent and believe. It must have 
been a solemn and interesting time. Jesus 
loved them to the last, and as his parting act 
of love he lifted up his hands to heaven and 
blessed them. Whilst he was blessing them, 
he was separated from them, and he arose 
from the mount in a cloud which soon hid 
him from their sight. While they were look- 
ing upward earnestly after him, two beings, 
who were no doubt angels, appeared to them, 
as if sent by the Lord to comfort them. They 
declared to the apostles that the same Lord, 
who had now ascended from the earth in a 
cloud, would in the end of the world return 



112 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

in the same manner, to judge men according 
to the gospel which they were now to preach. 
Their Lord was no longer their earthly 
companion, as he had been for not less than 
three years. He was now exalted to the 
right hand of God, and the apostles wor- 
shipped the ascended Saviour. Having done 
this they went back to Jerusalem. 



PENTECOST* 113 

PENTECOST. 

After returning to the city, John and the 
ten other apostles met together for the pur- 
pose of prayer. There were a few others of 
the dearest friends of Christ with them, and 
among them his mother. They did not meet 
merely to talk about the wonderful things 
that had occurred, and to ask what should 
next take place. They felt more than ever 
the want of grace to teach and guide them, 
now that their Lord had left them. But they 
knew he was only taken out of their sight. 
Like all pious people, they wished to speak 
to their Saviour in the only way that was left 
to them. That was by prayer. None but 
Christians know r how comforting it is in time 
of sorrow or trial, to pray. It is going to 
their best friend, and telling him their distress, 
and they know that he is able to help them. 
And for the same reason, they love to go to 
him that they may become more like him in 
holiness, and in every thing that is excellent 
and pure. For the more we are with a per- 
son we love, the more we get to resemble 
k2 



114 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

them. And the more Christians think of Christ, 
and follow his example, and look to him for 
direction and help, the more will they become 
like their blessed Lord, and be prepared to meet 
him in heaven. It is no wonder then that the 
apostles and the other friends of Jesus met to 
pray as soon as he had left them, and that 
they found it so happy an employment as to 
continue in it for some time. 

As the Lord wished to have twelve apostles, 
and as the wretched Judas had hung himself 
soon after he had betrayed his Master, Mat- 
thias was now chosen in his place. A few 
days after this, the Jewish feast called Pen- 
tecost took place, which was fifty days after 
the Passover. It was then that the promise 
of the Lord was fulfilled, that the Holy Spirit 
should be sent down on the apostles. They 
were enabled suddenly to speak in different 
languages, though they had never learned 
them. Besides this, they were so guided by 
the Holy Spirit that all their preaching and 
teaching should be just as the Lord would 
have it done, and without any mistake or 
ignorance. This is called inspiration. And 



PENTECOST. 115 

it is because the apostles were inspired by 
the Holy Spirit, that all they wrote, as well 
as what they spoke, is known to be from 
God. And on this account we should receive 
their letters, or epistles as they are called, 
and their sermons and remarks as they are 
recorded in the book of the Acts, as the word 
of God. 

As soon as the people heard that the apos- 
tles could speak in so many different lan- 
guages, a great multitude of people came to 
see them. But the apostles did not wish to 
make a show of it, as if they were proud of 
what God had enabled them to do. They 
made use of this power to preach the gospel 
at once to all the people, from different parts 
of the world, who came out of curiosity to 
hear them. And during that very day about 
three thousand persons were converted, and 
believed in Jesus. God continued to bless 
the preaching of the apostles in Jerusalem, so 
that every day some souls were added to the 
church there, which, before Pentecost, had 
only one hundred and twenty members. 

We do not know how John was particu- 
larly employed at this time. Peter was the 



116 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE* 

principal preacher, but there can be no doubt 
that the other apostles were very active in 
teaching the people and conversing with them, 
and explaining what they wanted to under- 
stand. 



THE LAME BEGGAR. 117 



THE LAME BEGGAR. 

About this time, however, John and Peter 
performed a miracle which caused great aston- 
ishment among- the people. They were going 
one afternoon about three o'clock to the tem- 
ple. That was the time in which the evening 
sacrifice was offered, and many persons went to 
see it, and to offer their prayers. As John and 
Peter were going into one of the gates, a lame 
beggar, who was sitting there, asked them to 
give him something ; for he was poor, and 
could not walk. The apostles stopped, and 
Peter spoke to the man, who looked at them 
very attentively, supposing they were about 
to give him some money. But Peter told him 
that he had neither gold nor silver to give 
him, though he would give him what he could. 

How surprised he must have been to hear 
Peter then tell him in the name of Jesus Christ 
of Nazareth to get up and walk ! The beggar 
probably remembered that a person of that 
name had been crucified six or eight weeks 
before, but could hardly imagine how he could 
be cured through him of a lameness, that he 



118 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

had had ever since he was born. Or the beg- 
gar may have heard Jesus preach in the tem- 
ple, and have already believed in him, and did 
not doubt that his apostles, in his name, could 
restore him. However this may have been, 
Peter took him by the hand and helped him to 
get up. The poor man now found that he 
could stand, then he walked, and at last so 
joyful and thankful was he for this mercy, that 
he leaped about, and praised God for his good- 
ness. He was very thankful to Peter and 
John for their kindness, and held them as if 
he did not want them to go away. But he 
knew that it was the Lord who had given them 
power to heal him, and that it was not in their 
own name, but in the name of Jesus, that they 
had done it ; therefore, he praised God, and 
went with the two apostles into the temple, to 
offer up his thanksgiving at the time of even- 
ing prayer. 

If this beggar was so thankful for being 
enabled to walk when he had been more than 
forty years without being able to do it before, 
how should those feel who have never known 
what it is to be lame ? This poor man had 
to be carried every day to the gate of the tern- 



THE LAME BEGGAR. 1 19 

pie, that he might get enough from the people 
who would pity him, to buy himself food and 
clothes. But how many of the readers of this 
history have always had the use of their 
limbs, and have no need of begging to supply 
their wants ! They have greater reason to be 
thankful than this poor lame beggar, and yet 
it is likely they have never thought of thank- 
ing God that they have strength to walk, and 
that they have parents and friends to take care 
of them, or that they are able to take care of 
themselves. 



120 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 



JOHN AND PETER IMPRISONED AND 
BEATEN. 

But this act of charity brought Peter and 
John into some trouble. When the people 
saw the beggar, that had been so long sitting 
from morning to night without being able to 
move, all at once walking and leaping as well 
as any one, they began to crowd around the 
apostles, and to look at them with the greatest 
curiosity and astonishment. The apostles 
thought it was a good opportunity for speak- 
ing to the people about Christ, and to preach 
the gospel to them. So Peter began by say- 
ing that they should not think that he and 
John had performed this miracle by their own 
power, or because they were very holy. It was 
in the name of Jesus, he said, that they had 
done it, and it was through faith in him that the 
beggar had been cured. This Jesus they had 
crucified; but he begged them to repent of 
their sins, and be converted, that they might 
be pardoned and saved, when he should come 
again, to judge the world. 

While Peter and John were preaching in 



JOHN AND PETER IMPRISONED. 121 

this way, a number of priests and other per- 
sons came to the place. They were very 
angry, because the apostles were teaching the 
people such things, and seized them, and had 
them put into a prison, or some such place of 
safety, intending to have them tried and pun- 
ished the next day ; for it was now evening. 
But no man can prevent the truth of God from 
doing the good which he intends. A great 
number of people who heard Peter and John 
preach that afternoon, were convinced of the 
truth of what they said, and became Christians. 

The next day there was a great meeting of 
the priests and rulers and other officers of the 
Jews. John and Peter were brought before 
them, and as they had done nothing that was 
wrong, the officers began to ask them by what 
power, or in whose name they had cured the 
lame man. They wished to find some excuse 
for stopping these two men from saying any 
thing more about Jesus, whom they had cru- 
cified. 

But the apostles were not afraid of all the 

great men before whom they were standing. 

Peter boldly told them, as he had told the 

people the evening before, that it was through 

L 



122 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

the help of Christ they had performed the mi- 
racle ; and declared, that though the Lord had 
been despised and put to death, there was no 
way of being saved except through him. 

When the priests and rulers heard Peter 
and John speak so boldly about the Lord, 
they were astonished, particularly as they 
knew they were plain men, and not like the 
learned and great persons who were commonly 
the only ones that could speak so well. Be- 
sides this, the very man they had cured was 
now standing near them, and all the people 
knew that he had never been able to walk till 
the apostles had told him to arise. They did 
not know, therefore, what to do with John 
and Peter, or what to charge them with. But 
at last they concluded to forbid them saying 
any thing more about Jesus, threatening to 
punish them severely if they should be found 
doing it again. But Peter and John told them 
plainly that they could not disobey God. 
He had sent them to preach salvation through 
his Son Jesus Christ, and they must do this, 
whatever trouble it might bring upon them. 

When this was over, John and Peter went 
to a meeting of Christians, and after telling 



JOHN AND PETER IMPRISONED. 123 

what had taken place, they prayed together that 
the Lord would enable his apostles to preach 
his gospel, without the fear of any evil that 
their enemies should threaten, and that they 
might still perform miracles in his name, to 
prove that they were sent by Him. Their 
prayer was answered at once ; the Holy 
Spirit was granted to them, and they preached 
without fear, and enjoyed that delightful 
peace and happiness in their minds, 
which Jesus had promised the Comforter 
would give them. The priests again seized 
them, and put them into the common jail ; but 
the Lord sent an angel, who brought them out 
the same night, and commanded them to con- 
tinue preaching to the people. They did so ; 
and when they were brought before the 
priests and rulers the second time, they again 
said that they must obey God rather than men, 
and declared that the same Jesus whom they 
had so cruelly put to death, had risen from 
the grave, and was now in heaven to give re- 
pentance and pardon to sinners. This en- 
raged the priests still more, and they would 
have killed the apostles, if one of their learned 
teachers of the law had not advised them to 



124 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

wait, and see if God would show whether he 
approved of these men or not. The apostles 
were therefore again dismissed, after they had 
been shamefully beaten. But they went on 
to preach every day, not only in the temple, 
but going to the people in their houses, and 
teaching them about Jesus Christ, and the 
way of salvation through him. 

Not long after this, one of the disciples 
was murdered in Jerusalem on account of his 
faithful preaching. His name was Stephen. 
False charges were brought against him, as 
had been done against the Lord, and when he 
was warning the Jewish council that in re- 
jecting Jesus as the Saviour they were re- 
sisting the Holy Ghost, they drove him out 
of the city, and stoned him to death. Stephen 
was the first person who lost his life in con- 
sequence of his professing the religion of 
Jesus. He was the first martyr. Since his 
death thousands have been persecuted and 
killed, because they loved Christ and his gos- 
pel more than their own lives. Every one 
should be willing to lose his property and his 
life, and every thing else, rather than deny 
the Lord. He has promised to be with those 



JOHN AND PETER IMPRISONED. 125 

who put their trust in him, even in time of 
death, and to receive them into heaven. And 
every true believer has such confidence in 
his promises and his love, that he will not 
fear to die. 



l2 



126 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 



SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 

John and Peter continued to be active in 
the service of the Lord. They were ap- 
pointed by the other apostles to preach in 
Samaria, and they went through many of 
their villages proclaiming the gospel. The 
feelings of John were very different now than 
when he was there with Jesus, when he and 
his brother wished to call for fire from hea- 
ven to destroy the Samaritans, because they 
would not receive them into one of their 
cities. They often went together to different 
places, and though Peter was generally the 
one who spoke, yet the lovely and gentle 
disposition of John must have had great in- 
fluence in doing good, and in recommending 
the religion they taught. Peter was a man 
of very warm feelings. He acted and spoke 
with great quickness, and sometimes with 
too much haste. John seems to have been 
more mild and prudent. It was therefore 
wise that two such men should go together, 
that they might advise and assist each other 
according to the circumstances in which they 



SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 12? 

should be placed. It seems likely that Peter 
was best as a preacher and speaker ; that in 
cases of difficulty he was more bold and ardent 
than John ; and that his talents were very 
valuable in proclaiming and defending the 
truth, in the midst of its enemies and oppo- 
sers. John, we should suppose, was the 
most useful in private ; he, probably, was 
most successful by his conversation. No per- 
son, of any right feelings, could know such a 
man as John, without loving and respecting 
him. This is an important means of gaining 
and exerting influence over others. John 
may have done as much in this way, as 
Peter did by his more public efforts. At all 
events, the Lord knew their different dispo- 
sitions and talents, and sent them out together 
on the most important duties. 

The Christian religion continued to spread 
throughout the Jewish country. One of the 
most bitter enemies of Christ and his gospel 
was converted, and became one of the most 
active preachers that ever lived. This man 
had stood by and seen Stephen stoned to 
death, and was so anxious to have him killed, 
that when the men who stoned him put off 



128 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE* 

their coats for the purpose, he took care of 
them till it was all over. And at the very time 
he was converted, he was going to Damascus 
at the head of a company of men, to seize all 
who believed in Christ, that he might bring 
them to Jerusalem and have them punished. 
This man was Saul or Paul, and he became 
so true a Christian, and so active in the ser- 
vice of Christ, that though he was not one 
of the twelve who had been with the Lord, 
he also was called an apostle. 

The gospel was now beginning to be 
preached to other nations than the Jews; 
though the apostles at first thought that Jesus 
only came to be the Saviour of that nation. 
The Jews called all other nations Gentiles or 
Heathen, and believed that they had nothing 
to do with the true religion. But now the 
Lord taught them, that when he had com- 
manded them to preach the gospel to every 
creature, he meant all persons in the world, 
whether Jews or Gentiles. And the apostles 
rejoiced in the delightful fact that they 
might proclaim the blessings of the gospel to 
all nations on the whole earth. 



death of john's brother. 129 

DEATH OF JOHN'S BROTHER. 

But whilst they were enjoying the happi- 
ness of seeing the religion of which they were 
once almost the only believers, now extending 
so rapidly, they had persecutions and afflic- 
tions to suffer. Herod Agrippa, the king of 
Judea, was opposed to the gospel and wished 
to please the Jews by afflicting the church of 
Christ. He caused James, the brother of 
John, to be seized and beheaded. There 
is no account of his being charged with any 
other offence than his being a disciple of the 
Lord Jesus, and for this the king had him 
put to death, as his uncle Herod Antipas had 
caused John the Baptist to be destroyed, and 
in the same manner. 

It is said that such was the composure and 
peace which James showed when he was 
condemned to death, that the man who gave 
witness against him to Herod became con- 
vinced that the Christian religion was true, and 
declared himself to be a disciple of Jesus. 
This account says that he was condemned to 
die at the same time with James, and that on 
their way to the place of execution he begged 



130 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

the apostle to forgive him; and James, turning 
to him, said, " Peace be to thee," and kissed 
him. They were beheaded together. 

The death of James must have been a great 
affliction to John. James was not only his 
brother, but he was a Christian ; and no bro- 
thers are so much attached to each other as 
those who are truly pious. They had been 
brought up together as children, and as men 
they followed the same business, in the same 
boat. They had been called at the same time 
to be apostles ; and had together left all to 
follow Jesus. Ever since that time they had 
been with each other, and the Lord had taken 
them both with him in the most important and 
solemn scenes of his life. To lose such a 
brother, and in such a way, was painful in- 
deed. But John had consolations that none 
but Christians can have. He knew that 
though his brother had been inhumanly mur- 
dered, he had the promise of Christ that he 
had prepared a dwelling-place for him in hea- 
ven. There he expected to meet him in a 
short time, and there they would both join 
their beloved Saviour and never more be sepa- 
rated. Oh, how unhappily must those bro- 



131 

thers and sisters feel, who have no reason to 
think they will thus meet together, and be for 
ever with the Lord ! Must they separate for 
ever ? Or must they all be unhappy for ever ? 
This is enough to make every one anxious 
not only for himself, but for all whom he 
loves, that when one is taken away by death, 
the rest may not sorrow as those that have no 
hope. 

James was the first of the apostles who 
died, and it is supposed that they all, like 
him, died as martyrs, for the sake of Christ, 
excepting John. When James was killed, 
Herod next seized Peter and put him in 
prison, where he was chained and guarded by 
soldiers. But the Lord brought him out, and de- 
livered him from Herod's power. Soon after 
this, Herod was seized with a sudden and 
most painful disease, whilst he was allowing 
the people to praise him as a god ; and he 
died in a most dreadful manner. Peter lived 
probably thirty years after this, and preached 
the gospel to the Gentile nations, and it is 
supposed that he was put to death in Rome 
as a martyr. It is said that he was crucified 
with his head downwards. 



132 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

After the death of James we do not know 
much more of the history of John. He pro- 
bably spent most of his time in Jerusalem. 
It was important that some of the apostles 
should remain there, as there would be many 
occasions for those who were going abroad to 
preach the gospel, to ask their advice and di- 
rection. One such case is known. When 
Paul and Barnabas thought that some persons 
were teaching what was not right, it was de- 
termined that they would ask the opinion of 
the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. They 
met for this purpose, and John was one of 
the principal persons in the meeting; for 
Paul, writing about it afterwards in a letter to 
the Christians in Galatia, said that John, 
Peter, and James (the son of Alpheus) ap- 
peared to be pillars, or chief supporters of the 
church in Jerusalem. This meeting or coun- 
cil was held about the year 50, nearly twenty 
years after the death of the Lord Jesus. 



JOHN IN EPHESUS. 133 



JOHN IN EPHESUS. 

Up to this time we have gathered our ac- 
count of the life of John from the New Tes- 
tament. The history of the rest of his life is 
very uncertain, but we shall give it as well as 
it can be collected from other histories. 

It appears that after spending many years 
at Jerusalem, the mother of Jesus having died 
there, John went into Asia Minor. In the 
year 71 all that the Lord had foretold of 
the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple 
came to pass. It was to John and three 
other apostles who came to him on the Mount 
of Olives, that Jesus had made known what 
should take place at this time. John must 
have been expecting the fulfilment of the pre- 
diction, and it was perhaps one of the reasons 
why he left the city. It did not, therefore, 
surprise him when he heard of it, and though 
it was nearly forty years since Jesus had de- 
clared it, it only proved to him, as it ought to 
us, that the threats and promises of God will 
certainly be fulfilled, though they may some- 
M 



134 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

times seem to be delayed. Not a stone of the 
temple was left upon another, and its very 
foundations were ploughed up. The wretched 
inhabitants of the city were destroyed by fire, 
famine, and the sword, or tortured and cruci- 
fied to death ; and those that escaped death 
in the city, were carried away as slaves, or 
thrown to wild beasts in the Roman theatres. 
How distressing this account must have been 
to John ! Yet he knew that the guilty people 
brought these judgments upon themselves by 
their obstinate rejection of the Messiah. 

John lived principally in the city of Ephe- 
sus, a large and splendid city on the river 
Cayster. The gospel had been first preached 
there by the apostle Paul about the year 54, at 
which time he found the city wholly given to 
idolatry. When John lived there, there were 
many Christians in the city. There were also 
many other places in that part of Asia where 
were Christian churches, as Laodicea, Smyr- 
na, Sardis, and others. It was therefore a 
very important situation for an aged and ex- 
perienced apostle to reside in. He probably 
spent much of his time in visiting these dif- 



JOHN IN EPHESUS, 



135 



• Thyatim 




MEDITERRANEAN SEA 



ferent churches, and the people must have 
been very glad to receive the man who had 
been the beloved disciple of the Lord Jesus, 
and who could tell them so much about him 
and his gospel. We may feel very sure that 
one of the duties he often spoke to them about, 
was that of loving each other, and that he set 
an example of this himself. For this was the 
subject he delighted to speak and write about. 
As he said — " He that loveth not, knoweth not 



136 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

God ; for God is love." And when speaking 
of the wonderful love of God, in sending his 
Son into the world to save sinners, he would 
say to Christians — "Beloved, if God so loved 
us, we ought also to love one another" 

But mild and kind as were his character, 
and his doctrines, even John did not escape 
the hatred of the wicked. In the year 81, 
Domitian became emperor of Rome. He was 
a cruel tyrant, and delighted in wickedness. 
As the Roman power at that time extended 
into Asia, John was within the reach of this 
emperor, who hated a religion that was so 
pure and different from his own character as 
that of the gospel. He of course hated all 
who loved and obeyed the gospel, and perse- 
cuted and destroyed many Christians. It is 
said, that he ordered John to be thrown into 
a bath of boiling oil, and that the apostle was 
not injured. But whether this is true or not, it 
is certain that the emperor wished to put him 
out of the way. John was known as the 
principal, perhaps the only, apostle then alive, 
and his influence was great in Asia. The 
emperor, therefore, ordered him to be ban- 



JOHN IN EPHESUS. 137 

ished to an island of the Mediterranean sea. 
John was now about ninety years old, and 
was thus forced to leave his Christian friends 
and the beloved churches of Christ, and go to 
live on a barren island like a criminal. 



M2 



138 



THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 



JOHN IN PATMOS. 

The place to which John was sent was 
Patmos, an island in that branch of the Medi- 
terranean sea which was called the iEgean 
sea, or Archipelago, and not many miles 



•ThUiPP 




y fy^%, mmm 



from the coast of Asia. It is a rocky, barren 
spot, twenty-live or thirty miles in circum- 
ference, and was used by the Romans as a 



JOHN IN PATMOS. 139 

place of exile for those who had been con- 
demned for their crimes. 

One Sabbath, which since the resurrection 
of our Lord was observed on Sunday instead of 
Saturday, and called the Lord* s-day , a most 
remarkable occurrence took place. It is likely 
that John, whilst in Patmos, spent these holy 
days in prayer and meditation; as he would 
not be permitted to preach the gospel to the 
other prisoners, if any, on the island. But 
the Lord did not forget or forsake him. On 
this day, whilst he was alone, he heard a 
voice speaking behind him, which sounded as 
loud as a trumpet, and caused him to listen. 
The voice was from God, and told him he 
was going to see some things which he must 
write an account of in a book, and send it to 
the churches of Ephesus, Laodicea, and the 
others which John well knew in Asia. Upon 
hearing the voice John turned round, and saw 
what seemed to be seven large candlesticks 
made of gold, and among them a person like 
his beloved Lord, but in a very glorious and 
splendid appearance. John was struck with 
so much astonishment and awe, that he fell at 
his feet, as if he were dead. But the Lord 



140 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

laid his hand upon him, and told him not 
to be afraid, for he was the first and the 
last ; he that had been dead, but was now 
alive, and would be alive for ever, and had 
the keys of hell and of death. This was 
the beginning of a long dream, or vision, 
in which the Lord caused many things 
to appear before John, as they were about 
to take place in the course of time. The 
different persons and events were not shown 
by name or by description, but by things 
that are like them. And though John wrote 
down what he saw, yet there are a great 
many parts of this vision, the meaning of 
which cannot be easily understood. The rea- 
son of this is, that the vision, or revelation, was 
not only for John, but for Christians of all 
times to read ; and as nearly the whole of it is 
a prediction, it was better to speak of things 
that were going to happen, in such a way that 
persons would not understand it until they 
had really taken place. For then it would be 
a proof that God knew what was going to 
occur, and that men had not done the things 
which had been predicted, for the purpose of 
bringing them to pass. 



JOHN IN PATMOS. 141 

Some parts of John's vision were of things 
that seemed to take place in heaven. At one 
time he saw what appeared to be the throne 
of God, with holy beings praising him. Then 
he saw a lamb which seemed to have been 
once killed, but had become alive. This re- 
presented Jesus Christ, who was called the 
Lamb of God, because he died as a sacrifice 
for sin. And to show the glory that Christ 
has in heaven, John saw hundreds of thou- 
sands of angels praising him. One of their 
songs was : " Worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain to receive power, and riches, and wis- 
dom, and strength, and honour, and glory, 
and blessing" And to show that Jesus was 
now reigning with his Father in heaven, one 
of the songs was this — " Blessing, and ho- 
nour, and glory, and power, be unto him that 
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, 
for ever and ever" Thus was Christ shown 
to be worshipped with the Father, as one 
God with him. Some of the heavenly beings 
had censers, or bowls, of delightful odours, 
that were offered to the Lamb ; which was 
meant to signify, that prayers were made 



142 THE BELOVED DISCirLE. 

to the Lord Jesus, and through him to the 
Father, as the mediator and intercessor of his 
people. 

Many things were shown in this vision 
that were to take place in the history of the 
church of Christ. One of the appearances 
that John saw was an angel flying with the 
gospel, which he was about to carry to every 
nation on the earth. This signified that God 
intended that the whole world shall have the 
gospel, and hear of the way of salvation 
through Jesus Christ. And though there are 
now six hundred millions of our fellow crea- 
tures who have not yet received the gospel, 
this very vision is one of the promises which 
encourages the people of God in sending 
missionaries, Bibles, tracts, and hooks, all 
over the world. 

John also understood from the vision that 
a time would come when there should be 
great peace and righteousness on the earth 
for a long period. This was represented by 
an angel coming from heaven and chaining 
Satan, and fastening him in prison for a thou- 
sand years. This is the time that is still 



JOHN IN PATMOS. 143 

looked and prayed for as the Millennium. 
The last thing that John saw in his vision, or 
trance, was a representation of heaven. He 
saw a beautiful and happy place, where there 
w r ere none but good and holy persons. 
There was no sickness nor distress there. No 
one was in pain ; no one was in danger of dy- 
ing, for there was no such thing as death. The 
Lord Jesus was there, and every one was 
happy with him. All was glorious, and pure, 
and delightful ; and it was to last for ever and 
ever. The Lord would never — never leave the 
place, and his people would serve him there 
and love him, and be loved by him without 
any end or change. This was to show how 
holy and happy heaven is, and how blessed 
are they that do his commandments, that 
they may have right to the tree of life, and 
may enter in through the gates into the city. 
The vision ended by representing the Re- 
deemer and the Holy Spirit calling sinners 
to come ; and telling all who heard the invi- 
tation to say to others come; and inviting all 
who are willing to come, to enjoy this happi- 
ness. And this means that the Lord Jesus who 
has died as the Lamb of God, and the Holy Spi- 



144 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

rit who changes the heart and makes men fit for 
heaven, are willing to receive every sinner 
who comes repenting of his sins, and sincerely 
trusting in the Lord Jesus for salvation. 

The whole account which John wrote of 
this vision is in the last book of the New 
Testament, and is called the Revelation ; 
because so many future things are revealed 
or made known in it. 



John's writings. 145 



JOHN'S WRITINGS. 

The emperor Domitian, who banished John 
to Patmos, died in the year 96. Upon his 
death, the Roman senate, in the reign of the 
emperor Nerva, permitted those who had 
been exiled to return to their homes ; John 
then went to Ephesus. How rejoiced must his 
pious friends in the churches have been, to see 
the aged apostle once more, after an absence of 
not much less than two years ! But though he 
had been so unjustly treated, he did not en- 
courage them to indulge any angry feelings 
towards his persecutors. He still preached 
to them to love each other, and to be at peace 
with all men. 

John was now very aged, and could not ex- 
pect to live much longer to preach the gospel, 
and tell what he had heard Jesus say, and 
what he had seen him do. There were three 
histories then published of the Lord ; one by 
the apostle Matthew, one by the evangelist 
Mark, and the third by the evangelist Luke. 
Matthew had been with the Lord, and had 
himself seen or known all that he wrote. 
N 



146 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

Mark and Luke were not apostles, but were 
inspired by the Holy Spirit to write their 
narratives. The same Spirit led John to 
determine to write another history. For 
there were many important occurrences and 
sayings of the Lord which none of the others 
had published, and which John had seen and 
heard himself. For though, as John said, it 
would be impossible to write an account of 
all that Christ said and did during the time 
he and the other apostles were with him, yet 
there were many things which ought to be 
known to all Christians. These he remem- 
bered well, and perhaps had kept a written 
account of. But the Holy Spirit directed him, 
and kept him from all mistake, and enabled 
him to relate the whole without error. 

Another great object of John seems to have 
been to keep Christians from ever doubting 
whether Jesus was really a divine being. 
Notwithstanding all the mighty works which 
he had done to prove that he was God, as 
really as man, some persons might be found 
who would venture to say that this could not 
be true. And there might be some absurd 
attempts made to explain this great fact in 



John's writings. 147 

some other way than God had revealed it. 
He therefore began his history by declaring, 
in the most plain and positive manner, that 
the Lord Jesus, or as he is called, the Word, 
was in the beginning of all things, before the 
world was created : that he was with God ; 
and that he was God; that he made all 
things, and that nothing was made without 
him. He relates that Jesus said openly to 
the Jews, I and my Father are one, and to 
one of his disciples, He that hath seen me, 
hath seen the Father — Believe me that I 
am in the Father, and the Father in me. 
Towards the close of the book he says that 
he had written it, that those who read it 
might " believe that Jesus is the Christ, the 
Son of God ; and that, believing, ye might 
have life through his name." 

A very important account is given by John 
which is not mentioned by the other writers. 
It is the conversation which Jesus had with 
Nicodemus, a Jewish ruler, in which the Lord 
told him plainly that unless the heart of a 
man is renewed by the Holy Spirit, he can- 
not enter heaven. This doctrine is often 
spoken of by the sacred writers, but John 



148 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

gives the very words of the Lord himself, to 
convince every one that not only their sins 
must be pardoned, but their hearts sanctified, 
that they may be fit to be where God is. 
This change or effect our Lord called a re- 
generation, or neiv birth, to show that it is 
like making a man a new being, so different 
is he from what he was before. And an- 
other most solemn and interesting portion of 
the gospel of John is, the kind advice and 
comfort the Lord Jesus gave to his disciples 
shortly before his death, and the prayer he 
made for them, which are found in the four 
chapters from the fourteenth to the seven- 
teeth. 

It was whilst he lived in Ephesus, either 
before or after his exile to Patmos, that John 
wrote three letters which are part of the New 
Testament. The first was probably written 
to Christians everywhere, and not to any 
particular people. One great design was, as 
in his gospel, to teach that Jesus Christ was 
truly God as well as man. He says that if 
any one denies the Son of God, he denies the 
Father. He begins his letter, as he did his 
gospel, by calling Jesus " the Word, and the 



John's writings. 149 

eternal life that was with the Father;" and 
ends it by declaring, This is the true God 
and eternal life. 

John wrote this epistle with as much ten- 
derness and affection as an aged father would 
write a letter to his family, from whom he 
was soon to be separated. He called them 
his "little children,'' and very often begged 
them to love each other like brothers. In 
this he only imitated the example and doc- 
trine of his Lord, who shortly before his death 
said to the eleven apostles, " Little children, 
yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall 
seek me : and as I said unto the Jews, 
whither I go, ye cannot come ; so now I say 
to you. A new commandment I give unto 
you, that ye love one another ; as I have 
loved you, that ye also love one another. 
By this shall all men know that ye are my 
disciples, if ye have love one to another." In 
the same manner John wrote to all Christians, 
assuring them that, if they had not this affec- 
tion, it was proof they were not the children 
of God. He spoke to them much of the 
Lord Jesus, telling them that they must fol- 
n2 



150 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

low his example, and look to him for help 
and mercy. And as he had heard Jesus 
himself once say that his people must de- 
pend upon him, just as the branch of a vine 
or tree has to depend on the vine or tree 
itself, so John said, in his letter, that 
Christians must still depend on their Sa- 
viour, until he should come in the last day 
to take them for ever to himself. He 
told them to think how great the love of 
God was, in sending his own Son into the 
world, that through him sinners might be 
pardoned, and be treated, for his sake, as his 
children. And when he spoke of the love of 
Christ in consenting to die in the place of 
sinners, he said that surely they should love 
each other, and be kind, and do good, when- 
ever any were in want or trouble. " In this 
was manifested the love of God towards us, 
because that God sent his only begotten Son 
into the world, that we might live through 
him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, 
but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be 
the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if 
God so loved us, we ought also to love one 



John's writings. 151 

another." The great commandments of the 
gospel, John said, are these, — 

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ; 
Love one another. 

There is another letter that John wrote, 
called in the New Testament his second 
epistle. This is very short, and appears to 
have been written to some pious woman. 
He told her how glad he was to find her 
children walking in the true and right way. 
Nothing in the world makes a religious mother 
so happy as to see her children growing up in 
the love of God, and keeping his command- 
ments. John knew how thankful the lady 
he wrote to must be for this blessing. But 
he warned her to be careful ; for there were 
many persons in the world who rejected 
Christ, and would not acknowledge that he 
had come. It is very necessary that pious 
parents should try to keep their children esta- 
blished in the truth. This they should do 
by teaching them the Scriptures, and praying 
constantly for the Holy Spirit to help them 
to understand and believe the truth, just as 
God has revealed it. For this is the true 



152 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

disposition in which to receive the word of 
God. This is true faith, to believe whatever 
God says, without doubt or objection. John 
therefore advised this lady to keep out of the 
company of all persons who taught differently 
from the Scriptures, and not to allow such to 
be in her house and talking to her children. 
He begs her also to remember the great com- 
mandment, Love one another. 

There is one more letter of John's, which 
he wrote to a man named Gaius. There 
was a man of that name who lived in Corinth, 
who was very kind to the apostle Paul, and 
to many other Christians, whom he was glad 
to have staying in his house when they came 
to that city. It is probable this was the per- 
son to whom John wrote this letter, for in it 
he speaks of him as being charitable and 
helping Christians on their journeys. John, 
in his affectionate manner, calls him one of 
his children, and tells him that he had no 
greater joy than to find his children walking 
in the truth. 

How happy would it be if ail men were to 
follow the advice of John, and love each other ! 
Then there would be no wars, nor quarrels, 



John's writings. 153 

nor violence. Every one would be trying to 
do good to others. And this is the way in 
which men ought to live ; for they are all 
brothers. We are all descended from the 
same first parents. But, above all, Christians 
should love each other. They love the same 
Saviour ; they are like his family. He often 
told them they must be united with him and 
with each other, and that there should be no dif- 
ference among them, any more than the limbs 
of the same body should disagree with each 
other. This was to be one of the proofs of 
the truth of the Christian religion in all ages 
of the world ; for the Lord Jesus praying for 
his apostles said, " Neither pray I for these 
alone, but for them also which shall believe 
on me through their word ; that they all 
maybe one ; as thou, Father, art in me, and I 
in thee, that they also may be one in us ; 
that the world may believe that thou hast 
sent me." Christians may worship God in 
different places, and their churches have dif- 
ferent names, but nothing should prevent 
their loving each other. Oh, let us remem- 
ber what John has written, f This command- 
ment have we from Him, That he who loveth 
God, love his brother also" 



154 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

JOHN'S OLD AGE AND DEATH. 

After his return from Patmos to Ephesus, 
John did not live more than three or four 
years. He visited the different churches, 
giving them his advice, and going among them 
like a venerable father. An ancient writer re- 
lates that the following occurrence took place 
at this time. 

Whilst he was visiting the members of a 
church in a city not far from Ephesus, he 
met with a youth with whom he was so much 
pleased that he hoped he would become a 
preacher of the gospel. He told this to the 
minister of the church, and begged him to 
train the young man for the service of Christ. 
The minister did as John requested, and took 
the youth to his own house. After some 
time he was baptized, and the minister, be- 
lieving him to be a sincere Christian, did not 
attend to him so strictly as he had done. The 
young man, perhaps, thinking like too many 
others, that he was safe for eternity because 
he was a member of the church, became care- 
less in his conduct, and falling into bad com- 



John's old age and death. 155 

pany, was led entirely astray. He went on 
from one sin to another, until at last he be- 
came a robber. Having given up all his 
hopes, he tried to keep away the dreadful re- 
collections of what he had once professed 
to be, by becoming worse and worse in his 
crimes. He gathered other robbers together, 
and was their leader, exceeding them all in 
cruelty and boldness. 

After some time, John, visiting the same 
city again, asked the minister about the youth 
he had given into his care. When he was told 
that, instead of being prepared for the church, 
he was at the head of a company of robbers in 
the mountains, John was filled with distress. 
He inquired about the place where the young 
man was supposed to be, and old as he was, 
went to seek for him. When he came to the 
mountain, he was seized by some of the band 
of robbers. He asked them to take him to 
their captain. They did so ; but when the 
young man saw that they were bringing into 
his presence the aged apostle who had shown 
him so much affection, and had believed 
him to be a disciple of Jesus, he was ashamed 
to meet him, and fled. John went after him, 



156 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE* 

crying out, "Why dost thou fly, my child* 
from thy unarmed and gray -haired father? 
Have pity upon me, my child ! Be not afraid 
■ — there is still hope. I will intercede for thee 
with Christ. Stop ! believe that Christ has 
sent me." 

The young man stopped, threw away his 
weapons, and began to tremble and weep bit- 
terly. And when John came up to him 
he knelt down before the aged apostle, and 
with tears entreated his forgiveness. The 
writer adds, that John brought him baek to 
the city, and by the blessing of God on his 
prayers, fastings, and exhortations, he was 
restored to the church, and lived a consistent 
Christian. 

John was now approaching the hundredth 
year of his age. He had lived to see the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, and was left the only 
one of the apostles, and perhaps the only one 
of those who had seen and known the Lord 
Jesus on the earth. He was not able any 
longer to leave Ephesus, and visit the other 
churches of Asia. He must have felt a particu- 
lar interest in them, after the solemn messages 
which the Lord had sent to them in his vision 



John's old age and death. 157 

in Patmos. Even to the church at Ephesus 
the Lord had said, " Remember therefore 
from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and 
do the first works ; or else I will come unto 
thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick 
out of his place, except thou repent." 

At last he became so feeble that he could 
not walk to the place of worship. But he 
loved it too well to be absent, and he used to 
be carried there every Lord's-day by some of 
his pupils. The people must have been glad 
to hear him speak, but he had not strength to 
say much ; and towards the last part of his 
life he said nothing else than Little chil- 
dren, love one another. When he was 
asked why he said this so often, he replied, 
" Because it is the Lord's command, and if 
that alone be done it is sufficient." By this 
he no doubt meant the same as he did in his 
letters, when he said that the love of Christians 
to eacTi other proves that they are the tme 
disciples of Christ. " We know," said he, 
" that we have passed from death unto life 
because we love the brethren. If we love 
one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love 
is perfected in us. Beloved, let us love one 



158 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE* 

another; for love is of God, and every one 
that loveth is born of God and knoweth God." 
Or, as Jesus himself had said, "By this shall 
all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye 
have love one to another." 

In this way did the beloved disciple spend 
the last years of his life, and died in the Lord 
about the year 100 ; seventy years after the 
crucifixion of the Saviour, and seventy-three 
or four since he had been called from Genne- 
saret to follow him. He had followed him as 
his disciple on earth, and now followed him 
to the mansions which he had gone to prepare 
for him. He had seen a representation of 
heaven in his vision at Patmos. It appeared 
to him as a splendid city, with a wall whose 
foundations were precious stones, and its gates 
pearls ; whose street was of gold, and whose 
light was clear as crystal. But all these 
were but comparisons of what the glory of 
heaven is. It is not a superb city, where 
the people of God will be rewarded with 
riches and pleasures such as are found in this 
world. All that we can say of heaven is, 
that it is perfectly holy, and perpetually 
happy, for ever and ever. 



John's old age and death. 159 

The promise which John heard was. " He 
that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I 
will be his God, and he shall be my son." 
There can be no doubt that upon his death 
John found this promise fulfilled to him- 
self; for, through Christ, he had overcome sin 
and the world, and for the sake of what Jesus 
did and suffered as his Redeemer, he was ac- 
knowledged as a child of God and an heir of 
heaven. In heaven " there shall be no more 
curse ; but the throne of God and of the Lamb 
shall be in it; and his servants shall serve 
him." Does the reader of this book desire 
to be one of those servants ? And not only 
to serve, but to reign, for ever and ever ? If you 
do, follow the example of John, and become 
the disciple of the Lord Jesus ; love the 
Saviour as John did, and you too will be a 
beloved disciple. But that you may do this, 
you must go to Him, repenting of your sins, 
and not trusting in yourselves, but looking to 
him for strength. You must depend on his 
mercy and the influence of the Holy Spirit, 
but you must seek for them with earnestness. 
And listen to the encouragement which John 
himself heard from Jesus, 



160 the beloved disciple. 

" And the Spirit and the bride say, come : 
And let him that heareth say, come : 
And let him that is athirst come ; 
And whosoever will, let him take the 
water of life freely." 



THE END. 



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